Camp Half-Blood
by Patroness of Athens
Summary: Argo II travels to New Rome. The Seven demigods of the Prophecy start their quest for overcoming Gaia. Octavian is planning to attack Camp Half-Blood. This story tells what happens meanwhile in the Greek camp. (A fill in-story for the Heroes of Olympus: The Mark of Athena)
1. Chapter 1 Clarisse

**I finally published my own story here in FanFiction. Since English isn't my native language, I hope you'll point out possible strange expressions etc. So that I can learn to write better. **

**I don't own all the characters in this story!  
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**Happy reading!**

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Clarisse

I could've slept for two more hours, since the breakfast was at half past eight on Saturdays. After that, our daily activities would begin, wiping easily out thoughts from problems that have been surfacing immediately after our big victory.

Personally, I wouldn't mind if Percy disappeared. For all I cared, he could go straight down to Tartarus - the sooner the better - but it turned out to be the first part of some mindless plan. More precisely, the first part of Hera's mindless plan. How could Hera even imagine, that we could make allies with the Romans? How could she assume, that we'd forget all the old grudges and not kill each other? Secondly, it wasn't up to me. As always, everything was depending on Percy Jackson. Or maybe the whole thing was a trap, and Argo II would get shot down instantly when it got close enough to the Roman's camp.

Argo II should arrive to New Rome this evening, and somehow i got a feeling, that it wouldn't end up well. The bad feeling was kind of confirmed by a dream that woke me up a moment ago. The dream has been messy. It was like I had seen snatches from here and there in the future. First I saw Leo, the scrawny kid of Hephaestus, who was a part of Argo II's crew. I saw him from behind, and he was recharging ammos to the trirem's ballistas. Farther away, I saw another boy, who was tall, blond and also scrawny. He was waving his hands like a maniac, and yelling something I couldn't really catch. Besides terror, I saw on his face something else... some sort of complacence, like he was thinking: "What did I say?"

Then Leo turned around, and his eyes gleamed gold. The blonde boy stepped back, truly shocked. Next, I saw Argo II, landing hard into some kind of lake. The ship looked badly damaged. In the next scene, I saw myself fighting for my life against half a dozen demigods - against half a dozen Roman demigods. They wore golden armour and their weapons were golden, too. (Emperor's gold? I had once read about it...) My electric spear was snapped in half (the pieces were scattered on the ground), and all I had as a weapon, was my dagger. My left shirt sleeve was blood-stained, but it looked like I was still winning. Of course. But it looked like we were fighting on the Half-Blood hill... and if it was so, then where were the other campers?

For half an hour, I tried to match those possible glimpses of the future. The only conclusion I kept coming to, was that Hera really had lost her mind. Or maybe she didn't even believe that her plan could work. Maybe she knew exactly how desperate it was. Either way, it didn't matter. The result would be the same. If all went well, the Seven demigods of the prophecy would take care of Gaia and her giants, and we in Camp Half-Blood would deal with the Romans. It would be fun. I still wondered, if I should tell Chiron about my dream. However, I came to the conclusion that since Argo II was already on its way, we could as well wait for the results of the meeting. It would be cowardly to suspend carrying out the plan in this state, and only 'cause of one dream. Especially when we didn't have a better plan to start with. Hera's plan was the only plan we had for defeating Gaia, as pitiful as it was.

I decided to go out. I quickly put on my jeans and orange Camp Half-Blood T-shirt and tied my hair back with a red bandanna. I lifted my Celestial Bronze sword from the sword rack next to my bed. I walked to the cabin's front door, trying not to wake my roommates.

The grass under my sneakers was wet and slippery. I tried to clear my mind of those interrupting thoughts as I headed towards the camp's swording arena. I wanted to do something useful, and 'cause we were apparently going to a war, training battle skills wouldn't be a waste of time. Besides, chopping dummies was a handy way to relieve your frustration. And if I could find some unlucky camper to spar with, that would be even better.

When I walked past the camp's basketball court, I saw someone shooting 3 pointers. Due to the fog, I couldn't recognize the person, but it had to be someone from the Apollo cabin. Every shot went straight in. I got closer, and I started to see some details in her appearance. It was a girl. She had straight reddish hair in a ponytail, and she was quite short.

"Jessica!" I yelled.

The girl looked at me, ready to defence herself, if I turned out to be an enemy. She held the basketball like it was a deadly weapon. "Clarisse", she said in a firm tone.

I grinned smugly to her. "Impressive. If a monster army attacks you, I'm sure that after returning from Tartarus they are scared to death they are scared to death of basketballs.

The daughter of Apollo shrugged. "Probably. Let's see how good you are!" She smiled mischievously and passed me the ball.

"Nah..." I tossed the ball on the court. "How about a little sparring match on the arena?" I nodded towards the swording arena.

Jessica sighed, but shrugged again. "Why not?"

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**So, how was it? Please review! I'll post a new chapter as soon as I finish translating it!**


	2. Chapter 2 Jessica

**So, I got this updated!**

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Jessica

Usually, the children of Apollo head to the basketball court when they wanna show up. I don't visit there for that reason. Well, maybe sometimes... But that's not the point. This morning, I just needed something to do. I couldn't be still without all the memories from the Titan war coming to my mind. Well, one _particular_ memory. The memory of my sister's death. Of course, many other demigods died there, too. Most of them were my siblings or friends, but Angelica was the only one I had left from my childhood home. She was my big sister. When she died, she was 17 years old, two years older than I am now. The images had hounded me since then: the collapsing bridge. My sister's dark green eyes full of despair and determination when she pushed me aside and tried to save Michael - our half brother from the Apollo cabin - from falling along the bridge to East River. My sister overbalancing over the edge when her grip slipped Michael's wrist, and both of them falling to the river far below them - falling to their dooms.

The memories had at last stopped tormenting me very often, and I'd learnt to block them out from my mind. Until I saw a dream last night. A dream, where I had to experience the most horrible moment of my life again. In the dream, I felt the same paralyzing horror as when I helplessly stood by and watched my sister plunge to her death. She was a hero. She hadn't just saved me. She had tried to save Michael, too. And now the both of them were gone. I can only hope, that they got to Elysium. And sure they got there, 'cause anything else wouldn't make any sense.

I shaked my head. _I'm thinking too much again. _I thought. _I should really try to learn how to shut up... Can you even say that about thinking? _I shaked my head harder. Clarisse looked at me weirdly. _Oh yeah... Clarisse. _I was actually relieved, that I could spar with her. The first and probably the last time in my life. Or well, no one had probably ever looked forward to a beat up from Clarisse... Well, it would at least give me something else to think about.

Clarisse swung her sword. "Well, are you going to escape?"

I pulled my sword from it's sheath and raised my eyebrows. "Me?" I stepped closer to Clarisse. The camp's arena was a wide, round area, the grandstand - like big stone steps - circling the edges. There was enough space for all the campers. Thankfully, there wasn't anyone watching. Well, of course there wasn't anyone - if was just an early morning, and to be exact, it wasn't even allowed to be out-of-doors before breakfast. And who even wanted to wake up this early?

We started to circle around each other. We both waited for the other one to strike first. Finally I got tired to it and attacked. I bluffed to the left, did a feint hit at her right side, directed her sword aside with my sword's flat and tried to hit her left thigh. She rejected. I backed up a few feets. She rushed at me, trying to hit my chest, but I stepped aside and lashed towards her left side. She rolled under my strike and tackled me to the ground.

Of course, I had to land on my face straigh into the arena's only mud puddle. And it was a _big_ mud puddle. I spat out a mouthful of mud as I managed to got up from the puddle without slipping. _Great._ I wiped most of the mud from my face and took a firmer grip of my sword. About ten feet away, Clarisse was smirking at me. I grimaced, but took my ready position. Clarisse didn't give me any mercy. _But so won't I..._ I started to use my advantages. Which maybe wasn't much, but I didn't care. I decided to show her, that even she was about twice my size, (and I'm not overstating) it didn't make me an easy opponent. And as a matter of fact, that _was_ my advantage: I was smaller and quicker.

I retreated, making Clarisse think, that I was trapped. In that point of the arena, quite close to the edge, were the dummies. When Clarisse attacked next, I backed out towards the outermost dummy. When she tried to hit me with the back of her sword, I darted behind the dummy. Clarisse had been so excited to beat me up, that she inadvertently smashed the back of her sword into the dummies chest. The strike was so hard, it made a hole and some straws came out. _Wow. _I really didn't feel like getting hit like that. It took a second too much from Clarisse to swallow the fact that she'd screwed up, and I had the time to hit her to the side with my elbow. She reeled back and gave me a mean glare, but recovered quickly, and made sure I didn't have time to enjoy my victory.

We fought on the arena for a while, and when we got back to our cabins, we both had lots of bruises and scrapes. And it's probably needless to say, that I was also covered in mud. I took a shower, and when I was ready, all my roommates were already awake. Few of them asked, were I had been. They didn't really get my point about sparring with Clarisse _voluntarily._ I used half an hour to finish my battle map for our battle strategy class. Then I tied my dagger on my left upper arm - I always have my dagger with me, but I only use it for want of better. My sword I left on the bed. Finally, we followed our camp director, Will Solace, to the dining pavilion for breakfast.

I took a few freshly baked rolls, a bowl of cereals and a glass of orange juice on my tray. When it was my turn to offer to the gods, I throwed one of the rolls to the fire and mumbled softly: _Dad, please don't let it happen again. Help me to become a better warrior, so that I can protect my friends. And rather quick..._ _Before the war._ I brushed a tress of hair aside from my face, walked to the Apollo table and sat down on the bench next to Kayla.

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	3. Chapter 3 Kayden

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Kayden

Usually, I don't worry about things that I'm not able to influence. At least if I have something to do, or a more concrete problem to resolve. Like now. Right after the breakfast, Chiron had informed, there would be a gladiator tournament tomorrow. Those were always exciting, and it would take everyone's thoughts away from the Romans and the Prophecy of Seven and... Well, from everything nasty. But my weapon was a bow, and I wasn't much of a sword fighter. Not to mention about nets and stuff. And yes, I've tried to practice.

And then there was Jessica, who always loved to make me look as ridiculous as possible... I gave her a quick look as we walked toward our cabin, and thought about all those times, I had to fight against her in some battle practice. She really thought humiliating me in front of the whole camp was serious fun - and so did all the other campers. For me, it wasn't always so much fun, but 'cause I would probably act the exact same way in her position - I think it was kinda our father's fault - I couldn't really complain.

"Jessica! Kayden!" Lyn yelled as she reached us. She leaned to my shoulder, and picked an apple from her hoodie's pocket. She bit the apple.

I scowled at her, a little amused. I was kinda forbidden to take any food with you from the dining pavilion.

She rolled her eyes. "Come on! I didn't have time to eat anything", she sighed. "And don't say, our next lesson is battle strategy!"

"Well... it is", I said and grinned at her expression. "And otherwise you could copy my map, but I doubt it would pass anymore..."

"What do you think I've done the whole meal time?" She asked, like it should've been obvious.

I shrugged. "Eat breakfast?"

Jessica sighed loudly. Lyn chewed the apple. I noticed Cara, a daughter Hecate, talking with Will on our cabin's porch. I poked Jessica on her arm and pointed at them.

Jessica raised an eyebrow. "What? Our archery class has probably been delayed. Will said something like that yesterday. They're talking about the new time for it."

"But Cara isn't the director of Hecate cabin. Lou Ellen is!"

"Uh... Yeah, but Lou is in the infirmary - don't you remenber, how Clarisse jolted her with her electric spear?" She explained. "...Why do you care, anyway?" She narrowed her eyes skeptically.

"Well, I was just thinking... Whatever, let's go take a look of Lyn's battle map!" I climbed up the stairs, gave Cara and Will a qiuck look and stepped into the cabin.

**-LINE BREAK-**

"Lyn Hales, we have been discussing this before," Chiron said as he looked at Lyn's battle map. "You have to do your homework properly. I don't like to nag, but strategic knowing is life-and-death for a hero."

"But I did this properly! And I didn't even copy it from Kayden... or anyone else. Look - if the enemy attacks from East, there's those forces defending the base. In West, there's a line of archers, here", she tapped the map with her forefinger. "And in North..."

"But what if the assault comes from South and they have a multiple superiority? How, and from where the auxiliaries can arrive in time, when there's no traps or barriers slowing down the attack?" Chiron asked patiently.

"Well, then... I don't know - maybe they can..." She fell silent and turned to look at me, grimacing.

I tried not to smile amusedly. Battle strategy wasn't my strong point, either, but Lyn really sucked at it, which was probably 'cause she never payed attention in the class, even Kheiron wasn't that boring teacher.

"I assume, that now on, you try to concentrate better. And you have to do this map again for tomorrow."

My map passed only just and Jessica's was the best in the class - as always.

Our battle strategy classroom was in a small structure near to the Arts & Crafts. In the same structure, there were also a few other classrooms, like the one were we had the Ancient Greek lessons. We had small desks, which were placed far from each other, so Chiron, who was a centaur, had enough space to walk between them. The classroom's walls were covered with battle maps. On the teacher's desk, there was a mess of parchments and old books.

We had shared battle strategy lessons with the Hephaestos cabin, which was fine with me - it wouldn't propably be nice with the Athena cabin, for example. Athena's children were natural strategists. And I _sure_ wasn't. I glanced at Lyn, who was sitting in the other side of the class. She was absently biting the back of her pencil. Cheiron was explaining about the positions of the archers in one of his battle maps, which I found pretty interesting - I was an archer myself. And so was Lyn, but I doubt she heard anything with her IPod's headphones in her ears, which her frizzy dark hair was hiding pretty well. In her opinion, music wasn't loud enough before it hurt your ears, and it was a miracle, that she still could hear something.

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	4. Chapter 4 Jessica

**So, I decided to continue writing this. Here's the fourth chapter!**

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Jessica

I found archery pretty okay, even it's one of those few subjects where I'm not the number one of my cabin. It's kind of ironic, that I'm not really special in any of those subjects, that are supposed to be the specialty of the children of Apollo. In archery, the campers of the other cabins are no match for me, but my siblings Will, Kayden and Lyn always beat me. It's the same with healing, music, and all the other Apollo stuff. When I found out I was a demigod, my first thought was, that I had to be Ares' daughter. I'm the best of my cabin in sword fighting and battle strategy. Fighting and showing my skills to my opponent? Awesome. Music and poetry? Not really my strong point.

I was standing next to the archery range with my siblings. Lyn was asking me, what we were discussing in the previous battle strategy lesson (wouldn't it be easier for her, if she just paid even a little attention in the class?) and Kayden fiddled his bow, looking thoughtful. Strange, usually he didn't appear to think of anything. I looked at the range, where the children of Athena were still training. We usually didn't have a teacher in archery. Sometimes Chiron did teach it, but often the camp directors and the more experienced archers taught the others. Or we just practiced by our selves. For a while, I looked for Annabeth, then remembered, that she was on her way to Rome, maybe already there. Shivers went down my back. Soon we would find out, how they were doing.

Lyn still explained something, but it seemed that she was talking to Kayden. Kayden still looked like he was in his own thoughts. Well, Lyn could sometimes be a little testing - she just couldn't be quiet. She wasn't more than a five feet tall, and she was pretty slender. Her hair was dark brown and frizzy, her eyes were brown, and her complexion was like the color of milk coffee. She was thirteen years old - Two years younger than me, and one year younger than Kayden. Where Lyn looked nothing like a typical child of Apollo, you could put Kayden's picture to Google with the headword 'Demigod descendant of Apollo'. He was a little taller than me, slim and muscular, and he had straight features. He had blue eyes and blond hair. And then there was me: red hair, green eyes, straight features and a frame like Kayden's.

I followed Kayden's eyes and noticed, that he was looking at Cara. I bit my lip so that I wouldn't smile amused. Cara was sitting back against a pine tree, looking bored. She was levitating an arrow above her extended hand, using magic. Cara was tall and pale, and her hair was violet. The daughter of Hecate was around my age. There was something in her, that bothered me. Not that I would think her as a threat, but she seemed somehow incalculable. Most likely it was due to the fact, that Hecate had been in Kronos' side in the last Titan war... and her children had killed our friends. I didn't now, if Cara had fought in the war. I didn't want to know. Now that Hecate had been gave a cabin in Camp Half-Blood, she and her children had been pardoned. I just couldn't put my suspicion aside. I never could. However, I didn't mind to interfere Kayden's love life, so I decided to let him possibly learn in the hard way, that you couldn't trust everyone. I doubted Cara would seriously harm him - and if she would... Well I think it's enough to say, that it wouldn't be good for her.

I turned my look away from Cara, and thank the gods I did so. One of her siblings, was his name Hale? Well, his name wasn't essential, but the fact, that he almost pierced me with an arrow. I just had time to roll aside before the arrow flew past me in a point were it would've hit my chest yet a moment ago. I was really thankful to have fine reflexes... I stood up right away and walked towards the boy who shot the arrow. He backed up a few steps when I came close. "Hale. Would you mind to explain?" I asked with my chilliest tone. Long time ago, I would've been upset and shocked, but after the Titan war, after Angelica's death... it wasn't so easy to shock me. And he was a son of Hecate. As I already said, I didn't really trust them. Especially now, when he definitely didn't act too trustworthy.

The boy swallowed. "I'm really sorry... I wasn't supposed to do that..." He faltered, and he really looked shocked. His eyes were wide open, and he was deadly pale.

"So, you accidentally tried to shoot me?" I asked with the same chilly tone - or was it so chilly anymore? I almost wanted to believe him... and he appeared to be around twelve years old, so he didn't look really dangerous. Without the fact, that he had just tried to kill me.

"Well... I didn't actually shoot." He said nervously.

I noticed, that everyone around us was watching, neither anyone said anything. I winced as I heard a common voice behind me: "Yeah, it's kinda true: he didn't actually shoot", the voice said with a laugh.

I turned to look at the comer, even though I already recognized her from the tone. Briana, daughter of Athena, stood at a distance, and after her, came the other children of Athena.

Finally, Will and Lyn clarified to me, that Hale - who's name was actually Garrel - tried the same trick as her sister, - levitating an arrow - but the arrow had went to wrong direction like it had been shot. It was just my luck, I thought with a sigh. I quickly turned to Garrel, who's face had turned from white to bright red. I shrugged. "See you around, Hale", I said and raised my eyebrows at him. "You see, I'm _not_ going to ask you to be my pair in archery." I left him to stand there, looking so embarrassed, I almost felt sorry for him. Almost. I couldn't help but grin, as Lyn passed me my bow and quiver.

After the archery lesson, I was walking toward the Apollo cabin with my siblings. I didn't bother to look behind when I heard running steps, but then I heard an unfamiliar girl's voice calling my name. I turned around, and I really wasn't expecting to see Cara. I realized, that I had never talked with her. At least, I didn't remember I had. She looked around my age, but her voice sounded a bit younger.

"Uh, so?" I asked, scowling

"Well... Could you talk with me for a while?" The girl asked, looking uncomfortable and huffy in the same time. She was gesturing towards the volleyball court.

I told my roommates, that I would catch them up later, and followed Cara toward the courts. As I supposed, she didn't want to play volleyball with me, but she stopped halfway there and met my eyes. Navy blue eyes met dark green ones, and unlike most people, the daughter of Hecate didn't turn her gaze away.

"About what happened before the archery... Garrel just didn't now what he was doing. I don't know, if you believe, but I'm just saying, that you don't have to harm him in any way. I wouldn't want to be your enemy." She had a firm look on her pale face, and she was clearly serious. If I'd kick his stupid brother's ass, she would make me pay. I didn't know, how nasty things a child of Hecate could cause by magic. Again, she wouldn't probably cause any harm, if I'd first stick her with my sword.

"You probably understand, that even he's sometimes a complete idiot, he's still my brother", Cara carried on.

I answered her with a nod. "Don't worry. I don't have anything against him, at least if he doesn't do it again." Even I didn't trust the girl, she actually seemed pretty descent. And I didn't just attack someone, if he didn't turn out to be a real enemy. And we _did_ have real enemies to fight, so it would be pretty stupid if we focused on killing each other. That would destroy us. We should stick together, even if we really didn't like each other.

Our conversation brought Clarisse to my mind. "How's Lou Ellen?" I suddenly asked.

Cara bit her lip. "She'll be fine", the girl said. She was smoothing another of her high ponytails, that she had on the both sides of her head. It looked like there were silvery stripes through her violet hair... No, did the sun just cause them? I came to the conclusion, that she had probably enchanted her hair to gleam silver. Of course that wasn't essential, but it was yet pretty cool.

I nodded again. "Good." I was truly relieved. Even in my opinion, Clarisse had been a bit too hard-handed with Lou. And even without an actual reason.

"I must go now, but this thing is clear, then." Cara started to walk towards the dining pavilion. I skimmed over the pavilion, and noticed, that my roommates where already there, going to eat. I turned on my heels and ran to take my bow and quiver to the cabin seven.

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	5. Chapter 5 Clarisse

**So here's the fifth chapter!**

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Clarisse

I was in the ancient Greek class, when Malcolm, the director of the Athena cabin, knocked on the classroom's door. He asked me to come to a camp directors emergency meeting. I Lowered my feet from my desk and grinned at the rest of our group. _Have a nice lesson, losers!_

As we got out of the classroom, I noticed Malcolm's expression. I came to the conclusion, that he already knew something. Or well, of course everybody knew, that the conference was about the ongoing quest. But what everybody _didn't_ know, was what actually happened on the quest. Well, we would probably find it out pretty soon.

"Chiron got an Iris message from _Argo II_", Malcolm said suddenly, as he tightened his stride. "They are not doing really well."

"Don't you say they're imprisoned", I said with a sigh.

"No, they're not. They were able to escape."

"Escape? So they escaped even thought they had a heavily armed battleship and a surprise advantage on their side?"

"Just to point out: their intent wasn't to attack the Romans, but to make allies with them." Malcolm sighed in frustration.

I narrowed my eyes. "Well, if they had to escape, doesn't that mean the Romans attacked them? But obviously they didn't have the spunk to fight back," I said with sarcasm.

Malcolm stopped suddenly. His hand grasped the hilt of his sword, but then he controlled himself. I snorted contemptuously. _Wise move, boy._

"Don't you dare question Annabeth's courage", he snarled between his teeth.

"Well, if defending her honor is what you want to do as your last act, I accept your challenge." I pulled my sword from it's sheath.

Malcolm glared at me, then rolled his eyes. "We have more important things to do. The meeting starts in a few minutes."

I shrugged. "Any way you want."

We finally reached the Big House's rec room, where were always had our council meetings. Malcolm gave me a one last glare, then took his seat around the ping-pong table. The children of Athena always thought they were so awesome. And it was only because their mother was the goddess of_ wisdom_._ Oh wow_. Really, put me against him in a close combat anytime. It would be my pleasure. However, I also took a seat - as far from Malcolm as possible - and turned towards Chiron, who was already waiting for us at the head of the table. All the counselors were present, except for Annabeth, who was placed by Malcolm, and in place of Lou Ellen, there was this violet-haired kid, Cara.

"I have called you here for an emergency meeting, and I guess you all know already, what it's about." Chiron said, looking at us. "I got an Iris message from the_ Argo II_ a moment ago."

Everyone around the table had their eyes glued at Chiron. Finally, he sighed and started to tell, what had happened to the crew of _Argo II_ in New Rome. He told us everything he'd heard from Annabeth in the Iris message. How they'd found Percy, who had became the second praetor of Camp Jupiter. How they'd bargained with the Romans. How Leo had went to_ Argo II_ with this dude, Octavian, and how the war ship soon started firing the Roman city. How they'd escaped and how Leo had admitted, that he had fired the city, but he didn't know why. Annabeth had also told, that now the Romans were after them, and that their ship was damaged. It was pretty sealed version, but Annabeth hadn't have much time to explain. And this all was just like in my dream. **(A/N: Chapter one)** I wandered, if also the other images were going to come true...

Instantly after Chiron ended, the counselors started asking questions all in the same time. "What's wrong with Leo?" Will Solace asked. "If the Romans didn't attack them, then why did Leo-..." Malcolm started. "Well, he'd said that he didn't do it in purpose", Miranda from the Demeter cabin interrupted. "And how could somebody destroy a half of a Roman city _accidentally_?" Malcolm pointed out. "Maybe he was under a spell", Cara suggested. "And who do you think enchanted him?" I asked the Hecate's kid over the noise. "If there was only that Roman dude in the ship with Leo, then why would he enchant someone to ruin his own city?" Travis Stoll asked loudly. Good point.

Finally, Chiron raised his voice and told everyone to shut up. Or as he said it, to be silent. "I'm afraid I can't answer any of your questions, because I don't know any more than you do. And why this happened, isn't the matter we're discussing here. Instead, we have to decide, what to do in our situation. And to be mentioned, the Romans are going to attack our camp. We have to plan our defense.

When I heared that, I immediately got up from my chair and banged my fist on the table to get everyone's attention. Everyone around the table fell silent and looked at me, expectantly. "Chiron, how soon are they going to reach us? And how are they suppose to find this camp?" I demanded first.

"Unfortunately, Annabeth mentioned our exact location to their other praetor. She did it as a gesture of trust, before _Argo II_ started firing."

"What?" I exclaimed, completely thunderstruck. "Is she a complete idiot? Who in the name of Zeus goes to inform her camp's location to a likely enemy?"

"I can see your point", Chiron said in a calm tone, which just irritated me more. "But she did it just to show them credit, so that they could also trust us. Most of them probably don't want to make allies with us any more than you want with them. Annabeth took a risk by revealing our location, but she did it only because we really need allies."

"And now our allies will come here and try to kill us. Great", I muttered, but sat down on my chair.

Chiron sighed. "Annabeth decided to take the risk, and we can't change that fact. It will take probably weeks from the Romans to march here. To be sure, the legion has the man superior and their fighting style is pretty different than ours, so we really have to prepare properly."

We discussed the defence of the camp for a several hours, and we even achieved to invent something reasonable. Chiron told us not to tell about any of this to any of the other campers. He wanted to explain things to them by himself at the campfire. Of course, that was futile. It was obvious, that all of us just couldn't hold their tongues. Some of the counselors would tell it to their roommates, who would tell it to their other friends, and in the end everybody would know more or less about what had happened before the campfire. For me, it was all the same. The situation was what it was. Who told about it to who, didn't change the things to one way or another. We would fight the Romans. And that was all I'd expected. I mean, who would've even expected anything else? Had someone really thought, that the plan could work? It didn't make any difference to me, if Percy was now their praetor, and if Jason had been their praetor before. They could swap sides whenever they wanted to.

What had Hera really imagined? Well, what she had imagined, didn't matter. But it was pretty obvious, what she had done. She had egged on the Romans against the Greeks. I don't know, if it had been her actual intent. We had saved the gods of Olympus in the Titan war. Piper, Jason and Leo had saved her own useless ass from that cage in Wolf House. If you ask me, the queen of Olympus should show us some gratitude.

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	6. Chapter 6 Kayden

**Wow, this is the longest chapter in this story! :D Hope you'll like it!  
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Kayden

We had a monster class lesson, when Will was taken into a counselor meeting. Right after he'd cleared off, everyone in our group started asking for more info from each other and our teacher. Since no one had any answers, we just had to wait for the meeting and our lesson to end. So, of course, the normally pretty interesting lesson felt like it would never end.

In monster class, we learned about different monster species, and how to kill them (or actually just send them to Tartarus). Today our topic were sea monsters, which actually wasn't my favorite subject at all. The first monster I'd seen, had been a sea serpent. And from that day on, my life never returned to normal. It had been when I was ten, and we were on a holiday in Florida - me, my mom and my little siblings, Nathan and Kylie. We were on the beach, having a picpic, and then, suddenly, that huge creature plunged out from the water... That memory still gave me chills.

Finally, the lesson ended, and I left towards the Apollo cabin with my siblings. We hoped for the meeting to be already over, but apparently it wasn't. Will hadn't come back yet. The situation had be pretty bad, if the conference took so long. Fortunately, our lessons for today were done, so we could to whatever we wanted to. I only claimed my bow and arrows from the cabin, then headed towards the archery range with Lyn. Jessica said she'd go to the swording arena, because she believed that the children of Ares were there. About anyone else would _refuse_ to go there for that reason. Well, there are many kinds of nutcases. And actually she held the field pretty well in a close combat, even against the children of Ares. In fact, Clarisse might've been the only camper, who could sometimes return her to the surface. And maybe also Annabeth, Percy and Jason... but non of the last tree were now at the arena ready to kick her ass.

Soon we reached the archery range, but there was no space. Apparently, also the other campers had wanted something to do, while waiting for the conference to end. I even saw some children of Aphrodite on the range. Normally, they rather used their time staring at a mirror or doing something else, that was more typical to them. I watched, as some of their arrows flew a couple of feet, then dropped on the ground. Some of the kids couldn't even adjust an arrow onto the bowstring. I wondered, what they done all the archery lessons.

I winced, as Lyn suddenly pulled an arrow from her quiver, and with lightning-fast moves, shot it to a pinetree, which stood in the timberline. The arrow remained sticking out firmly from the tree trunk._ Oh no, not again..._ This had happened before. Never with really good effects. A nymph in a dark green kiton appeared from the tree. She stepped angrily towards us and shook her fist, starting out a long litany of extraordinarily imaginative swearwords. I quickly exclaimed:"Sorry!" and we cleared off hastily. You could never know about nymphs, and I really didn't want to be turned into a sunflower or anything like that.

"Lyn, I think we should go somewhere else. This place is full", I pointed out.

Lyn glared at me angrily. "Yeah, I can see that."

"Shall we go to the arena? We could check out, how Jessica is doing with the Ares' kids", I suggested.

We walked to the swording arena unusually silent, and found out, that Jessica wasn't there. Instead of that, we found her sitting alone in the stand of the chariot racetrack.

"Jessica, what are you doing here? We saw the Ares gang at the arena..." I fell silent as I saw her look. "What?" I asked.

Jessica pulled her sword slowly from it's sheath, and stared at me. I backed up a few steps.

"Jess... Come on", Lyn sighed. "What's the fun in the tournament, if you now kill him? Just think of it that way. Everyone needs something to cheer them up - no offense, Kayden."

I shrugged, blankly. Jessica was thoughtfully smoothing her sword's blade with her forefinger, as if admiring it's beauty. Well, sure it was a fine sword with that golden hilt and finger guard and all... Apollo's gift to her. Though now it just reminded me of the Romans, whose weapons were gold. What was the name of their metal? Celestial gold? No.

"Why did I get this sword?" Jessica asked, looking neither of us in the eyes. "I mean... why me instead of Will?"

"Is someone a bit jealous to Will?" Lyn teased. "Since he's the director, and you're not?"

It really looked like it hit the sore spot. Normally, Lyn would've be in a thight corner by now. Now Jessica didn't even give her a glare. She just lifted her gaze and glanced somewhere over Lyn's head. "Angelica should've got Iliachtída, not I. She was a better warrior than I've ever been. A better _Hero_. She saved me, but I didn't manage to save her." Her voice was full of bottled-up pain.

I sat down on the stone stair next to her, and placed my hand on her shoulder. She didn't shake it off. "Dad wouldn't have given it to you, if he wanted someone else to have it. Angelica was a great hero, but so are you. Stop imagining, that your life-meaning is to be her perfect clone. No one is comparing you to her all the time. You're the only one who does that. Besides, it's not a shame to play second fiddle to the number one child of Apollo in this generation. Maybe even to the_ best ever_." It really worried me to see her like this. Some people maybe thought, that she was just arrogant, but it wasn't that simple. It was more that she couldn't accept having any failures, and sometimes she really had zero symphaty toward herself.

Jessica, who had placed her gaze back to her sword, grasped my hand, which was still on her shoulder, and squeezed it. She looked me into the eyes and managed to grin in a way, that looked more like a grimace. There was still the pained and dispirited look in her green eyes, but there weren't any tears. Jessica never weeped.

I touched lightly her sword, Iliachtída. The name was Greek, and it meant 'a sunbeam'. It was engraved on the gold hilt, (ηλιαχτίδα) and for some reson, the letters always seemed to shimmer. Apollo had given it to her by himself, when he'd arrived in Mount Olympus after overthrowing Typhon. That was when I saw my father for the first time. The sword was magnificent and fitted to Jessica perfectly, and I knew, I _knew_, that it was really been made for _her_. I just didn't know, how to make also _her_ believe it.

"And Jessica, remember, that whenever you want to, you can _always_ challenge Will. You would beat him for sure, and by that you'd claim his place as the director of our cabin! _No problemo_." I smiled at her, kidding, and she couldn't help but to smirk weakly. I patted her shoulder. "Okay, how about, if you now go to the arena, and beat up the Ares gang? I'm sure, that they'll come to the conclusion, that you now how to handle your sword, and at the same time, you can also parade to us. Don't you think so, Lyn?"

"Huh?" Lyn, who was sitting on the stair below us, balancing an arrow on her fingertip, looked like she was completely in her own thoughts. Then she tried to turn to look at us, which was too much for her concentration. The arrow dropped on her own toes. "Ouch!"

Jessica smirked, this time more succesfully, then fell on her knees next to Lyn. "Are you OK?" She asked her.

"I guess so", Lyn muttered between her teeth. "It would be pretty lame to go to the infirmary and say, that I dropped an arrow on my _own_ toes."

I agreed in that. Fortunately, Lyn was wearing her skate shoes, so there was no serious damage.

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Jessica had that kind of good feature, that even if she was completely dispirited for a moment, she got over it in a few minutes if she got something to do. That's what happend again. First, she wanted to go and check, if Will had already returned from the meeting, and as we reached the porch of our cabin, there was the typical expression on her face, which she always had when she was taking care of important or/and dangerous stuff. She strided the stairs up and entered the cabin, me and Lyn at her heels.

The was no one in the cabin. It wasn't a surprise, considering that Will apparently hadn't returned yet. In front of me, Jessica sighed in frustration and slumped onto her bed, which was the nearest one from the door. The Apollo cabin was oblong. The walls, the drapes round the beds, and about everything else in the cabin was golden. There were beds on the both sides of the room, end next to each of them, there was a large storage box for the camper's personal stuff. The wide aisle in the middle led to the tail of the cabin, were was the weapon rack full of different kinds of bows, swords and other weapons. There were also a bookcase, a small table for doing homework etc. and some other stuff for killing time. Right in the back, there was the bathroom - maybe the one and only thing in the cabin seven, which wasn't gold.

I walked to leave my bow and quiver on my bed, and glanced up at the grand golden clock, which was forged into the form of the sun. It was 4:30 PM, so there would still be an hour before the dinner. "So... what shall we do?" I asked the girls.

"Could we now go to the arena?" Lyn asked from the doorway.

Jessica shrugged. "I'm fine with that. Kayden?"

"Okay", I said, and picked up my sword from the top of my storage box.

Lyn found her sword, too, and we started walking toward the arena. I thought of Jessica, how close she'd been with Angelica and how she'd lost her. They had grown up together, shared the same childhood home... The camp was now my home, but sometimes when I thought of my old home, my home in Canada, similar guilty filled me. I hadn't seen my family for four years, and I had no clue how they were doing. But I had had to leave. If I'd stayed with them, I'd endangered them. I had thought I'd visait them after the Titan war, when it would be safer, but now, there were other problems. and there was always the posibility, that they wouldn't even remember me. The mist could've made them forget that I'd ever been part of their family.

Soon we reached the arena, and at least the half of the campers seemed to be there. There were many fights in action at the same time - Connor Stoll against some son of Ares, Briana from the Athena cabin with one of her brothers (I didn't remember his name) against Nyssa and Shane from the cabin nine, and lots of more fighting campers. In the stand, there were many other campers waiting for their turn and cheering at their favorites on the arena.

We climbed to the stand and sat down in to a free spot next to three children of Athena. Alex, a girl with a long, black hair and brown eyes turned to look at us. "Kayden! We were just wondering, who would we like to pick for a fight. Andrew, Haley, what do you think?"

Andrew shrugged and grinned at me mischievously. "Fine for me."

"Can't wait for tomorrow?" Haley ridiculed. "Well, I guess we can beat you up tomorrow _and _today."

Jessica raised her eyebrows. "Seriously?"

"Well..." Alex considered, "I don't know about you, but those two are gonna be... well, in a pretty bad shape."

"You sure? I think you should give that an other thought", Lyn blustered and wagged her sword.

I happened to look at the direction of the Big House, and noticed, that a crowd of teens was coming out from the rec room's door at the moment. "Look!" I exclaimed, and pointed towards them.

Everybody at close range turned to look at where I pointed. The campers who fought on the arena left each other alone and headed towards the camp directors. The whole stand emptied, as everyone went after them. We would finally get to know, what had happened with the Romans.

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**So, did you like it? Remember you can always, ALWAYS review ;) **

**And if the next chapter takes a bit longer, please mind, that I'm busy! Usually, I have most time for this story in the weekends, but this weekend I have a basketball tournament in an other city, so I can't write. But I try to continue as soon as possible!  
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**-Patroness Of Athens**


	7. Chapter 7 Kayden

**I did this in hurry, so I'm sorry if the translation sucks... Though it's the best I managed right now, so you just have to deal with it ;) I promise to write the next chapter better, and there will finally happen something interesting! ****  
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Kayden

I stared at the magical camp fire, which always reflected the mood of the campers. This evening, it was burning dark red, and only a few feet tall. The campers around me were whispering to each other in tension, waiting for Chiron to arrive. I thought about what Will had told us after the meeting. The Romans were planning to attack... I couldn't help but to think of Jessica's reaction, as she heard the news. She couldn't stand the thought, than someone would harm her camp. Harm her friends. I knew, that she was gonna fight to the death, if needed. Literally. I hated that thought. She was so much like Angelica... She wanted to save _everyone_. Even if it required her own life. And that's what I was afraid of. I didn't want to lose her, too.

I tried to shake that thought off, as Chiron finally arrived. The campers fell silent. I looked at my siblings, restless. Lyn was biting her nails on my right side. On my left, Jessica's eyes were glued at Chiron. In the glow of the camp fire, it looked like her red hair was flaming. I bit my lip, then turned to look at Chiron.

"Dear campers", Chiron started in a firm tone. "You all probably know something already, but I'm still going to make sure, that you all understand the situation for sure. It's very important, that you can prepare yourselfs for the upcoming." He looked at us, carefully.

It was completely silent. The last time, it had been so silent in the amphitheater, was in the memorials after the Titan war. I shivered at the memory. Angelica, Michael, and so many others, were gone. And now there was coming a new war... I forced myself to concentrate, as Chiron told us about _Argo II_ arriving to New Rome, and what had happened thereafter. I had heard almost the same things from Will, but I was still stunned about the fact, that Leo had fired the Roman city. As I'd heard it from Will, I weren't sure either to believe him or not, but now that Chiron confirmed it... Well, I kind of didn't know what to think.

Then Chiron told us, how to prepare for the Roman's attack. It would take them a few weeks to prepare the attack and reach our camp. The image of the Romans marching from California to here on foot, felt a bit stupid. How could even mortals miss an entire legion, if it marched through their gardens in full armor? I pushed the thought away and tried to concentrate. Chiron didn't tell much about any strategic plans, since we were out in the open. We _did _have the magical barriers, but it still wouldn't be really wise to shout aloud thinks like that. Instead of that, he told us some things about the Roman fighting style, which was quite different than our's, and accented, that we all should attend to train hard our fighting skills.

"And you probably remember, that tomorrow we start the gladiator tournament, which, for sure, is a great opportunity to improve those skills. So, I urge all of you", he gave a significantly look at the children of Aphrodite, "to fight seriously tomorrow! I think this is enough for today. You can go to sleep!"

I headed towards the cabins with the other campers. It was getting dark, and in front of us, the Apollo cabin glowed golden. The sky was cloudless, and the stars above Long Island created a magical feel. They seemed to stress the importance of this day.

I slowed my steps by oversight, and soon I noticed, that I had left behind the others. I was just going to run after them, when I felt someone touching my shoulder.

"Hi." It was Cara. There was a small, a bit melancholy smile on her lips, and the stars reflected from her royal blue eyes.

"Um... Hi", I gasped out. I must've looked pretty stupid, as I stood there, unsure what to do.

Cara looked somewhat amused, as she brushed a glittering tress of hair away from her face. She lightly squeezed my shoulder and pointed towards the beach with her other hand. "Have you ever visited the beach in a nigh as clear as this?" She asked.

I shook my head. "No." I mentally sighed from relief. This time, I could already regocnize my voice.

Cara grinned at me. "Come!" She caught my wrist and began to drag me past the climbing wall towards the beach. The other campers were heading to the opposite direction to the cabin, and fortunatly no one turned to look back. It was forbidden to hang out outdoors in the night, and the patrol harpies had the permission to eat all the campers who break that rule. However, we didn't see any harpies on our way.

We soon reached the beach, near to the place, where we always shot fireworks in the end of the camp summer. Cara released my wrist and sat down on the sand. I sat next to her and looked at the lake. The scenery really was beautiful. Due to the stars, it looked like there was molten silver through the black water. Far ahead, you could see the lights of New York. I breathed in the fresh night air. The view calmed me down, and soon the panic-stricken tension was gone. Sure I was still tensed, but in a different way. In a much nicer way, than still a moment ago.

"Well, what do you think?" Cara asked in a silent voice and turned to look at me. Before, it had looked like there were silvery stripes through her hair. Now they shimmered almost totally silver. The violet color seemed to blend to the silver in the same way, as the black water blend to the shimmer of the stars.

"Something in this evening... there's something unusual, you feel it?" I was going to say something a bit more ordinary, like _Wow, a beautiful view, _but the words as if escaped my lips.

Cara looked at me, thoughtful. "So you feel it too. I thought that..." She shook her head. "I thought, that only we children of Hecate can sense this... But your're right. This is one kind magic. There's indeed something special in this day."

"You mean... Is it about the Romans?"

Cara shook her head thoughtfully. "Not sure... but I don't think so. This is something bigger." She lookes me in the eyes, and the overwhelming feel in my chest made breathing hard. Her eyes were so perfectly blue...

"I think, that something major is about to happen", she continued. "And it's not a good thing for us."

The way she said it... there was pain in her voice, like she knew more, but didn't want to say her suspicions out loud.

"What should we do? Should we tell Chiron?"

Cara shook her head again. "No. He's avare of this. All we can do, is to look out... I don't hink, that we can get ready for this - whatever it is - in any way." She bit her lip. Cara looked almost... uncomfortable. The she sighed and smiled vexedly. "I have to think this over, but not today." She stood up and brushed some sand off her jeans. "Come. I have had enough of this place already." She offered me her hand and pulled me up.

We slowly walked towards the cabins, having a chat. We talked about small, normal things, like there were no Gaia or Romans or anything else threatening us. We were talking about the tournament, as Cara suddenly whispered: _"Get down!"_ I hit the ground and from the corner of my eye, I caught a dark figure on the left. _A harpy!_

We were only less than a ten feet away from one of the columns of the dining pavilion, and apparently the harpy hadn't noticed us yet. For a moment, I considered trying to hide behind the column. Then I ditched the idea. The column was too far, and the harpy was heading straight towards us... Then it came to me. _"Cara!"_ I whispered as quietly as I could. _"Can you bluff it using magic?" _Then I looked at her more specifically, and noticed, that she had closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate hardly. _Well, she's already on it... _I was pretty sure I blushed. It felt so stupid just to wait there and... Then something happend. A giant mushroom appeared straingt in front of the harpy. The harpy stopped like it had walked into an invisible wall. The mushroom, which was about a few feet tall, started jumping, sidestepped the stunned harpy and carried on towards the beach. For a moment, the harpy just looked stunned, but then it decided to rush after the mushroom.

If you have never seen a chicken monster chasing a giant mushroom... Well, I can tell you, it was worth of seeign. I tried to stay quiet as long as the harpy was in hearing distange, but I failed. I bursted laughing in the same time with Cara. Luckily, the harpy was so busy chasing the jumping mushroom, it didn't notice anything. I laid on the grass next to Cara, and couldn't stop laughing. At some point, I turned my look from the grass to Cara and managed: "How did you do that?"

She grinned at me. "Manipulated the Mist, the mushroom didn't really excist."

"Wow. Wish I could do something like that", I said, and couldn't help but to admire her.

She smiled smugly, kidding, then shrugged. "Yeah, it can be useful sometimes." I hadn't noticed until now, how close she was. Our shoulders almost touched. Cara seemed to noticed it, too. She suddenly leaned on her other elbow and touched my cheek lightly. Then she looked me straight into the eyes, and pressed her hand again on my cheek. She was so close, I felt her breath on my face. That's when she kissed me. It was a short kiss, but filled me with warmth.

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	8. Chapter 8 Jessica

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Jessica

I was standing in a big shadowy hall. It seemed to be some kind of temple, but it had no ceiling. On the sides, the marble columns rose at least fifty feet high, like they were supporting the clear, star dotted night sky. In the temple, - inasmuch as it even was one - it was almost pitch dark. The only light was from the stars above, and I could barely see a ten feet ahead. Most of the hall was covered in shadows and some kind of weird purple and black mist... Or was it maybe Mist? I quickly looked back, almost certain, that someone was lurking in the shadows. I didn't see anyone, but the feeling didn't go away. If there was somebody, and if he/she decided to attack, I would be an easy target. I just hated that pathetic feeling! _If I just had a simple flashlight... __Of course! _I unsheathed my sword. For some reason, Iliachtída **(AN: that's the name of her sword, just in case you don't remember) **glowed in the dark. And the weirdest thing was, that it glowed soft _gold_. The hilt sure _was _golden, but the blade was Celestial Bronze. Maybe it was due to the fact, that I had got the sword from Apollo, who was god of the sun. _Yeah... that would actually make sense._

I raised the sword, which helped me to see farther than yet a moment ago. Though, since the hall was so huge, most of it still remained hidden in the shadows. I took a step towards the nearest column. I had no idea, whose temple this possibly was, or where it even was located. Then, without any kind of warning, pair of large double doors flew open a few ten feet behind me. I just had time to see a flash of soft light from the doorway, before a girl stepped in. She was enough far, so that I couldn't see much details of her appearance, but as she got closer, I saw, that she wore a black chest armor, pair of black wrist guards, black jeans and a black robe. She was about 17-years old, and she had black hair and good tan. I took a good position, ready for an attack. Then she just strided past me, like I didn't even exist. For a second, I just stood there, wondering, what was wrong with her vision. Then I heard someone speak. And that_ someone_ wasn't the newly arrived girl. The girl was on her knees on the black marble floor, in a spot just on the edge of my field of vision - in front of her, I could see only that weird mist. It actually seemed, like the voice came somewhere from within the mist. Like there really _was_ somebody.

"I called you, Lieutenant Nicoli, to order you a mission", the voice said. It was female, and I first tought of Gaia, but her voice didn't meet my perception of Gaea's voice in any way. She sounded much younger, than I pictured Gaea to sound. But then again, her voice was commanding, arrogant and cold.

"Yes ma'am", the girl dressed in black armor answered. Her voice got the similar hardness and arrogantness as the first speaker's, and also a sort of cruelty. _If that dude noticed my precence, she would kill me without a doupt. _I couldn't help but to think of my odds against that girl. I wasn't too sure about them. Her whole essence breathed self-confidence given by experience. Somehow, I got the feeling, that one day I would be against her on the battlefield. She surely wasn't on our side in this war. This whole place breathed darkness and evil...

"Lets get to the point", the voice said from the darkness. "You have to make sure, we can't be defeated when the time comes. Your job is to crush their last hope of beating us. Do you understand what I mean?" I could hear the cruel satisfaction in her cold voice.

Even I didn't see the black warrior's face, I could tell by the tone of her answer, that she was smiling cruelly. "Yes ma'am, I think I understand."

"And you probably also realize, that this is the maximum sign of trust for you. If, and when you perform this mission exemplary, you have grate opportunities to rise on your rank, Lieutenant Nicoli. Now, get back to your normal duties and wait for more instructions. You're dismissed."

I somehow felt, that the speakers presence left the hall. Or not really... More like it's _consciuos_ part, the part that could speak and give orders, moved off. In the room, in the mist swirling around me, and even in the starry sky, remained part of her presence. The girl called lieutenant Nicoli stood up and started heading towards the double doors, that were hidden in the shadows. As she was a few feet far from me, I thought she would just pass me as she did when she came. That's why I almost jumped from fright when she suddenly turned her gaze straight at me. Her eyes were dark brown and pretty much like steel. They didn't show any kind of emotion, like she had trained for years to harden her feelings, so that she'd become just a cold killing machine. And somehow I got the feeling, that her newest mission was to crush _us_, to crush _our camp. _My fists clenched as I met her eyes. She stared me straight back, as if trying to break my willpower and courage with her steely glare. I did't turn my eyes away. No one would crush me. Neither my camp.

"The fact, that you're just dreaming, may turn you invisible to the others, even to my mistress, but not to me. And you're not going to stop me from completing my mission, Jessica _Silver, daughter of Apollo." _She smiled sardonically, then lazily swung her hand first at the swirling mist, which was everywhere around us, then at me. After that, she continued towards the doors.

I was so mad, I wanted to rush after her. I squeezed my sword's hilt. _Yeah, my surname much be really amusing to you..._ _You sure are good at mocking and glaring, but don't you even have the courage to pick out you're sword? Scared that you're not so invincible after all? _I was so hardly trying to resist the temptation of rushing after Mrs. Invincible, that for a moment, I didn't spot anything freak happening. Then I noticed, that the thick, swirling mist, which had just stayed some distance from me, was now threateningly whirling straight towards. It rolled from all sides, and soon I stood in the only mistless point of the hall. And it was getting smaller second by second. I couldn't do anything but to stand there, horrid. Mist wasn't that kind of enemy, you could fight by sword. And I was pretty sure about that, since I had already tried it - you know, just to make sure it didn't work. I held my breath, ready to drown to the mist. I still didn't know what it was, but it certainly wasn't regular mist. That's why I considered likely, that this would be a bad thing for me. Right when the mist rolled over me, and I couldn't hold my breath anymore, I woke up.

I jumped up in my bed, catching desperately for breath. The golden walls of the cabin seven shimmered softly. Almost everyone were already awake, sleepily getting dressed for the breakfast. Immediately, all of them turned to look at me. I sighed and slumped back onto by bed. When I next opened my eyes, I saw Kayden standing over me. I buried my face behind my hands and muttered: "It was just a dream."

"You sure you're okay?" Kayden asked, looking concerned, which didn't really match with the blush on his cheeks. His blond hair was messy, as always, and he was nervously chewing his upper lip. He looked pretty comic.

I managed to smile at his face. My brother always made my life feel a bit more tolerable. And he did that just by... well, by being himself. I couldn't help but to think about the black warrior in my dream... Why did 'Nicoli' sound somehow familiar to me? And it felt like I had seen her before... I just wished I remembered where. But one thing was for sure: I would have to face her again. I would have to fight her. Hesitation tried to capture my thoughts. My chest felt like someone was standing on it as I thought, what could happen. I _had_ to keep my friends alive. I had to keep _Kayden_ alive.

I rolled my eyes at him and sat up. "Really. Stop worrying about me." I punched his arm lightly and raised my eyebrows. "What are you waiting for? I have to get dressed."

"Hey! What have I done?" He protested, rubbing his arm, as if I had punched hard.

"Mmm, lets think about that... Ran away from the campfire with a certain girl?"

Kayden's blush brightened. "We just-"

"Thanks Kayden, but I don't need any details."

Kayden opened his mouth to say something, but he was saved by Will.

"Hey, no need to tease Kayden", he said and ruffled Kayden's hair. "And everyone else is already ready, Jess. We have to leave in..." He raised his look at the big gold clock. "...ten minutes for the breakfast, so you should hurry up."

I sticked my tongue out at him, then dragged myself to my storage box. I quickly dressed on the same clothes as yesterday: jeans and black top. I wondered if should I tell somebody about my dream. I coudn't forget that sardonic smile on that black dressed girl's face. _'And you're not going to stop me from completing my mission, Jessica_ Silver, daughter of Apollo.' Crushing our last hope... that was her mission. I squeezed the dagger I was holding in my hand. _Be free to try._

_. . ._

We had a swording class right after the breakfast. I was more than fine with that, since little training wasn't bad before the tournament... Which again wasn't bad before the upcoming war. We gathered on the side of the swording arena with the children of Hermes. Me, Will and the the counselor of Hermes cabin, Travis Stoll, stepped in the front of the others.

"Okay", Will started. "I was thinking, that we should rehearse some basics today", he said. "Jessica? Could you display with Tra-"

"With Will!" Travis interrupted and hastily gestured us to go to the arena.

I grinned at Will, teasing. This was what happened before every swording lesson. For some reason, almost no one in the camp seemed to be willing to spar with me.

Will sighed, but accepted his fate. "Oh well." We moved closer to the center of the arena, as the others remained watching.

"Okay Will", I said. "Try to attack me in different ways, and I show different ways to block them." I took the ready position and focused all my thoughts to this moment. However, my dream was still disturbing me. I had pushed it to the rearmost part of my mind, but still, it was eating my concentration. I had the feeling, that I had missed something important... I couldn't tell about it to the others, though. They had already enough to worry about.

I tried to focus. I stared at Will, waiting for him to attack. Finally, he did it. He rushed towards me, his sword ready, then quickly stepped aside and stabbed at my right side. It was easy to reject. I just pulled my sword sideways, stopping his stroke, charging enough power to force him to back off. "Okay. Then the same but slower", I said. We did it again in slow-motion.

Next time, Will lunged more subtly. He managed to get behind me, and if he had had a clumsier opponent, he would've had time to strike. But I wasn't clumsy in any way. I turned backwards elbow foremost and hit him in the chest. He fell on the groung. I grimaced at him, apologetically. "Sorry."

"No problem..." Will breathed. "But lets not do it again." He stood up and we continued the show.

After a few examples, we splited the rest of the group to training pairs. After that, me, Travis and Will circled among the training campers, correcting their flaws. As the lesson was coming to it's end, some campers from the other cabins came to the stand. Most of the Ares gang was there, likewise many Athena's children and some other campers. I spotted Clarisse, who was sitting with her gang in the middle of the stand. She was pointing at... me? That's what it looked like. She was probably blustering her friends how she would beat me up in the evening... What a surprise.

Then the idea hit me. I wanted to tell someone about my dream. However, I didn't want to make all the campers worried with the information. And, I wasn't sure about telling it to Chiron. I wanted to talk to someone, who could maybe know something, or who at least was an experienced warrior. I maybe didn't personally love Clarisse, but in a way, she kind of fit in those frames.

I still stopped to explain to a little Hermes' girl, that she shouldn't handle her sword like an axe, _and_, even if her sparring partner was however annoying, she really wasn't suppose to kill him. Then I informed to everyone, that the lesson was over. From the corner of my eye, I noticed, how Cara pulled Kayden up from the ground, since he had stumpled in the very last second of the training. I threw a calculating look at her back, then carried on to the stairs of the stand. I headed to Clarisse, whatching as her boyfriend Chris Rodriguez poked her in the arm and nodded towards me. Clarisse turned to look at me, grinning. "Hey, readhead!" She exclaimed. "We were just placing bets for the evening. Wanna know, how popular you are?"

"Some other time", I answered. "You have a moment?" I bit my lip and gestured towards the empty part of the stand.

Clarisse looked at me, and her expression sobered a bit. She shrugged. "Fine, just wait here guys", she said to Chris and the rest of her gang.

I walked ahead of her, and sat down on an empty bench. There was nobody in hearing distance. Clarisse sat next to me, frowning. "Well?"

I told her my dream as fully as I could. She didn't spoke until I was finished. "So, you expect me to know, who that black dressed dude was?"

"I thought that you _could_ know." I corrected, looking at her, expectantly.

"...Strange, I have never though of your last name's irony before. Apollo's daughter named _Silver..." _She grinned at me, amused.

I rolled my eyes. "Hey, seriously! That wasn't the point." I muttered. "So, would you know anyone who's surname is Nicoli?"

Clarisse thought about it for a second. "Don't think so." However, she looked more serious now. "Could it have something to do with the _Romans?"_ She asked, saying the word '_Romans_', as if it was the worst insult ever. "Or with Gaea?"

"At least, I'm quite sure, she's a demigod. Roman or Greek? No idea, but I don't think their allies with the Romans. And what comes to Gaea... the voice who spoke in the temple... It could very well be on Gaea's side. At least, it was evil."

Clarisse nodded. "And there wasn't anyone else? Only that voice and the warrior?"

I nodded. "Yep, only them."

Clarisse frowned, looking thoughtful, like if she was considering, to tell or not to to tell me something. "What?" I asked, since she hadn't said anything for a while.

She looked at me, as if still wondering, was I worth or her trust. Then she just shrugged, like she had came to the conclusion, that I wasn't so good-for-nothing as she usually told me. "I saw a dream last night. We were fighting the Romans on the Half-Blood hill... Or well, actually _I_ was fighting them, There weren't any other campers. Just Romans."

"So, in other words, it's just a matter of time, when the Romans _and_ the warrior from my dream _both_ attack us, _and_, lets not forget about Gaea's army, which is _also_ coming here in any minute... _How_ _awesome_."

Clarisse shrugged. "Yeah... You got the point." She stood up. "Well, see you in the evening", she blurted, giving me a smugly grin. "You're going to be in a _bad_ shape." She sounded quite happy about that.

"We'll see that later", I aswered, raising my eyebrows at her, challengingly. Then I jumped to the tier below us, continuing down to the arena. I still had a few more things to clear up before the evening, when I would have some other things to do. Regardless, I was still waiting for the tournament. And for that, I had only one goal: Victory.

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	9. Chapter 9 Jessica

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Jessica

It was the lunch time, and there was so noisy in the dining pavilion, I couldn't really hear my own thoughts. That was fine with me. Why would I even want to hear them, if they were mostly about lieutenant Nicoli, and the feeling, that I had missed something important, which would sooner or later going to lead to my, and my camp's doom? _Well, maybe I _do _hear my thoughts after all... _I slapped a hand on my face. _Am I going a bit nuts or something?_ I thought, almost amused.

Someone could maybe think, that in the middle of this all, I would think of the tournament as an irrelevant thing. That was maybe what most people would do in my place. But I wasn't 'most people', and even in this situation, I was still actually looking forward to the tournament. I wanted to win, at last. The last time, I had been in the final with Jason. And yes: Clarisse hadn't made it to the final. Long story. And a funny one. But I think there's no time for it now. However, I would've won, if I hadn't broke my wrist. I had a shield, and Jason managed to (by accident? Maybe, maybe not) push it to a little uncomfortable position in the thick of the fight, and since I had tied it on my hand, I couldn't toss it away - snap. That's why Jason had time to tackle me to the ground and press his sword on my neck. I placed second. In fact, I placed second pretty often in the gladiator tournaments... A couple of time I had actually won, though.

I nudged my salad with my fork. Next to me, Will was joking to Kayden something about his fighting skills. The other conversations around me were just fuzzy hubbub, and I could only part a few words from them. Like this: "...A new sword, it really-..." "...sucks, I'm so beating you up-..." "...Are we still going to practice-..." "...my hair dye failed _so _badly-..." "...It's all right, at least you're still beating Kayden-..."

I finished my salad, mostly not intervening the other's conversations. At the end of the lunch, Chiron still had a few things to inform us before the tournament. He recommended all of us to have some last minute training, and reminded about what weapons were allowed, and what were not. After that, I headed to the arena with my roommates. There was no one really, that wanted to spar with me before the tournament, so that they would still be in the condition to fight. That kind of commends always warmed the cockles of my heart.

. . .

So, there I was, sitting in the arena's stand with all the other campers. It was finally the time for the tournament, the moment we all had been waiting for. After a long time, it was pretty nice to feel this excited, just waiting for a simple contest without having to think of anything else. Like I was just that eager child, I had once been. A quick flood of memories recurred to me: Me holding my first sword at the age of... seven? looking up to Angelica, grinning, as I barely could raise the heavy weapon. The day I sneaked alone to the woods, just wanting to see some monsters, when I was maybe eight. I knew it was forbidden and dangerous, especially when I was just a kid back then, but I was so sure about my skills, that I didn't mind what the others told me. Luckily, Angelica noticed me going there, - she knew me, and it was pretty often that I did something adventurous like that - and she just helped me to fight off those hellhounds, that had surrounded me, and after that, she wasn't even mad. She just laughed at my stupidity and ruffled my hair. As I thought about those moments I spent with my sister, for the first time, I didn't feel sad or anguished. I actually felt kind of happy. And I think I felt it like that, because this was the first time after the Titan war, I had thought about her without thinking that she was gone.

"...And about the rules", Chiron said, "They are the same as always, but I'm still going to bother you with them, since some of you may need a little reminder." He looked at us, supposedly seriously, but there was a twinkle in his eye. "And of course we have some new campers, who may not know them yet. So, as a weapon, you can use a spear, a sword, a dagger or a net, and in addition, you can also have a shield. Magical items are allowed, and you can also have more than only one weapon. But lets all be reasonable - I'm pretty sure, any of you don't need more than ten differend weapons." He looked significantly at the Stoll brothers. In the last tournament, when they had to fight each other, they took that rule a bit to literally. They both had dragged as much weapons as they could carry to the arena, and then... well, it was pretty fun to watch, as they tried to overwhelm each other with all those weapons.

Many campers laughed, and I couldn't help but to smile. "I think that's all. Any questions?" No one seemed to have anything to ask. "So, the first fight will be..." Chiron took a piece of paper inside his coat. "...Will Solace from the Apollo cabin vs. Malcolm Davis** (AN: Sorry, I had to invent Malcolm a last name, since it has never been mentioned in the real books)** from the Athena cabin. Fight well!" He exclaimed, and people started cheering and whistling. I turned to grin at Will, who looked a bit surprised for opening the tournament. The first pair was always drawn, which meant, that they weren't always even. If you lost, you were out off the contest, and the winner got a new challenger as long as he/she kept winning. That meant, that you couldn't afford any mistakes. If you lost once, you were out. Well, it wasn't _that _simple. Even if you dropped out of the contest, you could still make it to the finals. In the end of this day, Chiron would pick up twelve best fighters, who would continue in the semifinal tomorrow. To win, you had either to disarm your opponent, or make him/her surrender by having your sword on his/her neck. Maiming and intentionally injuring your opponent was forbidden under the risk of being disqualified.

Will stood up, and I poked him encouragingly towards the stairs. Then we others just watched, as Malcolm came from the opposite side of the stand and faced Will on the arena. They bowed at each other, then stepped back, swords ready. For a second, they just scanned each other, searching for a weak spot. The stand quieted down, waiting to see who would strike first. Then the battle begun, and cheering filled the arena, again. Malcolm lunged to Will, feinted at his stomach, then somersaulted over him. Will quickly turned around and stopped Malcolm's slashing blade, pushing him away. For a moment, their swords were in contact, but then Malcolm had to back off. "Go, Will!" I yelled over the cheering. Next, it was Will's turn to attack. He rushed trying to hit Malcolm's left side, then he directed his sword aside and almost had time to tackle him. Malcolm had seen it coming, and managed to step aside. Will reeled, but got his balance restored before Malcolm's next attack. And so it lasted for a while, without either of them getting the upper hand. Then, Malcolm managed to tackle Will to the ground, but before he could touche Will's neck with his blade, Will rolled aside, then tripped Malcolm to the ground using his foot. Now they both were down, and Will quickly rushed at his opponent, kicking his sword aside. Before Malcolm could reach his sword, Will plunged on him shoulder above, and kept him on the ground, then placed his sword on his neck. The stand burst cheering, and the whole Apollo cabin stood up, cheering louder than anyone else. "SEE, EVERYBODY?" I yelled, "WE RULE!" Lyn hugged me, grinning, and I hugged her back. It was kind of an honor, if you won the opening match. I was really happy for Will - he had represented our cabin pretty exemplary.

Chiron stood up in the lowest level of the stand and entered the arena. "The winner of the opening match!" He declared, grasping Will's arm and lifting it up. "Will Solace!" Will looked pretty pleased, as he grinned at us. Malcom stood up, looking not-so-pleased as he turned to face Will and shook his hand. Yeah... _losing_ the opening match wasn't maybe so nice. Malcolm moved off to the stand, where his siblins were. Will remained standing in the middle of the arena. "The challenger for Will is..." Chiron picked the same piece of paper inside his coat. "...Kacey Miller from the Demeter cabin!"

As I - and all the other campers - watched, a little girl climbed down the stairs and stepped to the arena. She was maybe... twelve? And pretty small sized. She was holding a dainty dagger, the blade forged to the shape of leaf. She had dark hair, and her expression was a bit timid. Well, it wasn't a surprise, since she was so small and everything. I was glad she had to fight against Will and not Clarisse, for an example. Will would probably understand to be a little softer than usual. Clarisse... well, I really doubted that. I watched interested, as the girl started looking more self-confident, as she reached Will and bowed to him. Then they took some space and studied each other. Will was the first to attack, which kind of surprised me. The girl sidestepped and took a better position. Then she attacked. She lunged towards Will, who didn't seem to take her too seriously, then she somersaulted over him, but didn't strike. Instead of that, she picked something from her pocket while she was in the air, and tossed it at Will. She softened her fall with a roll, then stood up firmly. I looked at Will, and my eyes widened. As the tiny object the girl threw hit him, it instantly started growing some kind of shoots, which thickened and begun tying him up. "Cut them off!" I Yelled to him, and he seemed to hear me, since he quickly started struggling against the shoots, which had already bounded his arms while he was just standing there, stunned. Luckily, they weren't yet too thick to cut, and Will managed to break away.

The girl called Kacey readied her dagger. She still looked a little shy, but there was that kind of determination written over her face, that told me she didn't want to seem pathetic in front of the whole camp. Then she attacked. Her attempt wasn't too bad. She lunged at Will, and as Will placed his sword to reject, she rolled under it. Her size made her really agile, and she had definitely practiced. She got behind Will, but Will managed to guess her next move, so he countered her strike. Then, they started a full battle. Will stroke, she dodged, Kacey somersaulted, trying to hit Will's head, he ducked. Will really had to try his best. The girl was small, but as I already mentioned, she was really agile, much quicker than Will, even he wasn't any slow himself. Kacey was pretty skilled, but it would still be a bit embarrasing to Will, if he lost. _C'mon Will_. _You can't lose to a twelve years old kid! _I watched, as the girl pulled something from her pocked, again. It was a round, small object... a pea? then she threw it at Will. This time, Will knew better than to let it touch him. He looked like he had had enough of this fight. "Now it's the time to wake up, Will!" I yelled at him. He gave me a quick glare, then continued the fight. As their blades met again, and Will rejected one of Kayce's strokes, Will manages to do one of the maneuvers, we had been practising a long time. He twisted his sword around her dagger, so that it flew from her grip. Then, he quickly rushed after it, reaching it at the same time with his opponent. This time, he pushed her away without hesitating, and picked the dagger from the ground. He had won.

Cheering filled the arena. Again, me and my siblings stood up, jumping, yelling, and giving high fives to each other. Even this contest could have only one winner, we of course supported our roommates. We all wanted the winner to be at least one of our roommates, if we didn't win personally. I knew, Will wasn't going to win. I hoped he would make it to the semifinal, but there, someone would beat him for sure. And yeah, I was a 'someone', but so was Clarisse, and a few of her siblings, too. And lets not forget about the Athena's children, like Alex or Andrew or... well, I think you got the point. No offense intended to Will. He's a nice guy.

We sat down as Chiron walked to Will again, raising his arm up and declearing him as the winner of the fight. His next contender was a boy from the Aphrodite cabin. Then Nyssa from the Hephaestos cabin. Nyssa won him, and became the next defenting champion.

Kayden's name was announced before mine, as the next challenger for a son of Ares called Keith. He had already defeated four opponents and he was huge. I looked at Kayden, grimacing. "Well, off you go, then", I said to him, trying to sound encouraging, but I doubted it worked. Sure it was sometimes - well, pretty often - fun to watch, as he got beaten up, but for real, I didn't want him to det actually hurt. I really hoped, that the Ares' son wasn't going to kill him. Kayden sighed, then passed me and climbed down the stairs. The Ares gang whistled and hooted loudly as he reached the arena. A few other campers laughed, too. I cheered at him loudly with the rest of the Apollo cabin.

They bowed, though not really respectfully. Keith bowed deeply with sarcasm, grinning cruely at the same time. Kayden barely moved his head. Then, the fight begun. Keith attacked, trying to hit Kayden in the chest, but he managed to reject, which made him reel, since Kieth's blow was so hard. Kayden just hadn't learned the right way to reject, and in the way he did it, it took all his powers to keep Keith from hitting him. Once again, the son of Ares attacked, and Kayden was looking pretty desperate. He looked like he was trying to hide behind his shield, and he kept backing off. The audience laughed. Some of my siglins looked amused, too, and some were grimacing. I think I did something between those. From the other hand, the fight looked ridiculously funny, from the other, it looked miserable. Keith was obviously just playing with him, hitting his sword on Kayden's shield again and again. Sometimes, Kayden tried to attack, but failed poorly. He just got beaten up even worse. Keith managed to do a nasty looking scrape on his arm, then he kicked Kayden on the chest, which made him flew at least five feet in the air before landing hard on the ground. Keith let him stood up, looking a bit too enthuastic of making him suffer. Then he attacked again. Finally, Keith had enough of the fight, so he just kicked Kayden's sword from his grisp and picked it up from the ground. Kayden looked pretty beaten. As he always did after a sword fight.

"Kayden! Kayden!" Everyone started yelling, as he climbed up the stair to us. He sat down next to me, and gave me a quick grimace. I laughed and tapped him on the back. "You were... um, well, you _weren't_ fine, but..."

He poked me with his elbow. "Yeah, you know _excatly_ how to make me feel better."

I shrugged, "I know."

My name was finally announced as the next challenger for Kayla, one of my sisters. She wasn't a bad fighter, but, as you probably already guess, I won. What? I'm not showing off at all! ...Well, maybe a little bit, but I'm just telling the truth. The tournament went on, and nobody managed to beat me. And yes: not even Clarisse. That made me feel awesome. Really, winning was definitely the best thing you could ever experience.

So, there I was, standing in the middle of the arena, waiting for Chiron to send me another challenger. But he didn't. Everyone had already fought at least once. Now was the the time to declare the twelve semifinalists. Chiron raised my hand up, announcing me as the winner once again. I grinned, as the audience started cheering, my siblings standing up and some of them having some kind of victory dance up there.

"You all probably want to hear the semifinalists now", Chiron started. The stand quieted down. I Just stood there, feeling like I would burst from enthusiasm in any minute. Then Chiron started naming the semifinalists. My name was the first, and I moved to the side of the arena, where Chiron had gestured me to go. Soon, Clarisse joined me from the stand, then Will, - as I said, he had definitely deserved it - then Alex Li from the Athena cabin, a few other children of Athena and Ares, Nyssa from the hephaestor cabin and Travis and Connor Stoll from the Hermes cabin. Chiron was congratulating us, when suddenly something happened. By 'something', I mean, that a black thing, that looked a lot like a void, appered in the middle of the arena. It wasn't a void, since it didn't suck us in, but it seemed to suck all the warmth from the whole arena. I felt, like the blood in my veins had just turned to ice. Actually, I felt like all my inners had turned to ice. And it wasn't from the cold. It was from the presence I felt there. I was the only one (except maybe Clarisse) who wasn't surprised by seeing her, as a warrior stepped out of the void. It was Lieutenant Nicoli.

The campers draw their weapons. All except for me. I just stood there, staring at the girl, who was dressed in the same black armor, as the last time I saw her. "What do you want?" I managed. No one else spoke. Not even Nicoli. She just looked at me, smiling in a way, I didn't like at all. I stepped forward. "Well?"

"I want to fight."

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	10. Chapter 10 Jessica

**Sorry for it taking so long! I had some other things to do, like reading the Kane chronicles - I haven't read them before, and I found out that I just love them! I really recommend you to read them, if you haven't yet!**

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Jessica

"Fight?" The fright inside me had turned to anger. I knew this was about to happen, so why would I even mind to be afraid? If I had to fight her, I would at least give it a good try. I would make my father proud. I would make Angelica proud. So what if I died?

It was completely silent. All I could see, was the black warrior in front of me. I looked at her, challengingly. "All right, then." I drew out my sword. "Or are you just going to run away like the last time? Like the coward you are?"

She smiled at me amusedly, but her eyes were just the same, cold steel, as they were in my dream. Her whole expression breathed casualty and scornfulness. It was like she took me as seriously, as she would take a five year old kid, who was acting exasperatingly. _Yeah.. I feel pretty flattered._ "Nice to meet you again, Jessica Silver." At least, my surname didn't seem to amuse her anymore. Now it was just me that amused her. _Great._ All I could read from her expression, was that amusement. All other feelings, she kept hidden... If she even had any. "But I'm afraid I have to disappoint you. You see, I'm not here to fight you, however awesome you think you are." Her smile got wider, but definitely not any warmer. I started to get frustrated. And also a bit worried. If she wasn't going to fight me, that meant she would fight someone else. And I just had the feeling, that none of us would do well against her. I didn't want any more campers to die. It was rather me than any of them. But no, it didn't seem to be going according to that plan.

"Then who?" I asked blankly, just slightly narrowing my eyes.

"She raised her look and scanned the stand. Her eyes came to rest opposite my cabin. She raised her hand, and pointed at... _No! This wasn't possible..._ My eyes widened in horror. There were at least 150 campers, and she had chosen... Kayden. For less than a second, it was still silent, as everyone looked at Kayden. This had to be just a bad joke... But definitely it wasn't a joke. The campers started muttering to each other nervously. No one seemed to think of Kayden's fighting skills - or their absence - as a funny thing anymore. Now the fact, that he was probably one of the most poorest swordsmen in the history of demigods, had just one meaning: He was going to die. Now. Kayden seemed to be in shock. He just sat there, in the middle of the campers, his expression frozen in terror. I felt, like someone had just smashed me at full tilt to a stone wall, which had then collapsed on me and buried me alive. I couldn't breathe. Or move. I could just stare at Kayden, as my biggest fear was coming true. A small part of my mind, which wasn't too much in terror to think of anything, yelled: _You can't just stand there and let it happen again! You know you can't live with yourself if you don't do anything! SO DO SOMETHING!_ It was like someone had just splashed a pailful of cold water on my face. I blinked. I could see my surroundings again. I yelled aloud the only words, that were in my mind right now: "Kayden! NO!"

I rushed at the black warrior, completely outraged. My thoughts seemed to circle in my mind, uselessly. All I wanted, was to stab her to death. But when I was just about to reach her, she disappeared into black fog. Then she appeared again a ten feet away from me. She laughed. "Whoa. Take it easy. Oh yeah... you won't. You're too heroic for that." She grinned meanly at me, obviously still incredibly amused. "But, let me remind you: I challenged you're brother, not you, to a duel. It's his choice, not yours."

I tried to keep my voice firm... Well, it was more that I tried to keep it from totally cracking up. "To a... duel to death?" I asked. My voice really wasn't firm. But at least, it didn't crack up.

She smiled that cruel smile of hers. "Yes."

I just wanted to safe Kayden. The voice in my mind - which was now so loud, it made my head ache - yelled:_ Deny him from accepting the challenge! Just knock him out if necessary and drag him to safety! Kill that terrible bitch!_ But then, another, more restrained voice said:_ It's his choice! You can't get involved, the ancient rules order that!_ And then, there was this really small voice - usually it wasn't that small, but in this situation, it was tiny - that said: _You don't want your brother to be a coward, and he definitely is a coward if he doesn't accept the challenge!_ Right now, I wanted to punch that latest voice, but since it was just a part of my thoughts, it probably wasn't possible.

I hated myself for doing that, but I just stood there, staring at Kayden, as the thoughts in my head fought each other, totally messing up my mind. "I...", he mumbled, his voice breaking. "I accept your challenge." He stood up, then started climbing down the stairs. As he reached the arena, Chiron stood up. His face was grave, but I could see the bottomless sadness in his eyes. "At least, tell us who you are." He said to the warrior.

"Sure. My name is Meliza Nicoli." She drew out her sword. The blade, which seemed to be Celestial bronze, was covered with gleaming engravings. "Are we getting this started or not?" She tried to sound bored, but I could see her enthusiasm for this. It sickened me. How could someone enjoy killing an innocent kid for no reason? She was totally deranged.

Chiron read the ancient rules for duels shortly. The point was, that the last man standing was the winner. Rest was just formalities. I tried to come up with a plan, but in actual fact, there was nothing I could do. I would break the ancient rules by interfering. There was nothing I could do. But I couldn't be agreeable with that fact. I would work out something.

Chiron told me and the other eleven semifinalists to move to the stand. The campers had gone silent again. I catch a glimpse of Cara, who's expression was besides terrified, also completely mad. Like she could only just keep herself sitting there with her siblings without rushing to the arena and tearing the black warriors face of with her bare hands. She looked also somehow... hurt. The feeling, that I had ignored something obvious, came back. I tried to think, what it was, but I just couldn't figure out anything. I forced myself to concentrate on the plan I was trying to come up with. I didn't mind to go back there, where my siblings were. It made no difference, where I sat. So I just sat down on the stair and turned to watch the fight.

Meliza Nicoli bowed shortly, but casually. Instead of the grin, there was now a concentrated, merciless and cold look on her face. She really had to be well trained. Even she was surely enjoying this, and she wasn't taking Kayden too seriously, she didn't let it disturb her concentration. That didn't really make me feel any better. Will sat down on the step next to me. I didn't even notice. All I saw, was Kayden, who had fear in his eyes, but who stood back straight, trying to look brave. Nicoli wasn't rushing with it. She was just playing with Kayden. She lunged at him, making him back up, then, with a quick, casual feint, she slashed at his arm. Her blade cut a long wound on his arm. Kayden reeled back, pressing his right arm. I flinched. It wasn't a really bad wound, but it felt like she'd also cut my soul. My chest hurt. Seeing him get hurt... it felt a hundred times worse, than if she'd wound me.

The warrior started to circle Kayden. She was older and taller than Kayden was, and obviously with more experience and definitely with more skills. She looked so casual and cruel, while Kayden looked so tensed and afraid, even he tried to hide his fear. I noticed I was clutching my dagger, which was tied on my left arm. I almost pulled it out from it's sheath and threw it at the girl. I could easily hit her with it, even from this far, and even she was in motion. But it was definitely a no-no. I wasn't sure, if anyone had ever interfered a duel to the death like that. It definitely wouldn't be honorable, and I wasn't sure, what would happen if I did that. Breaking ancient rules wasn't usually a good idea. But now anything else but letting Kayden die seemed like a good idea...

As I saw him getting more bruises and cuts second by second, I made my mind. I couldn't take this. All I wanted was to pierce the girl with my dagger. Unfortunately, I hesitated a second too long. The warrior had had enough of playing with my brother. This time as she stabbed at him, she did it for real. Her blade went straight between the leather stripes that tied his chest armor from the right side. I felt like I was going to black out. But I didn't. There was only one thought in my mind: _I'm NOT letting it happen again! I'm not going to stand by and watch him die!_ I let my dagger fly. I targeted it straight at the girl's throat, were weren't any armor. She was just about to give Kayden the final strike, as he was defenseless on his knees, clutching his side. But her reflexes were almost inhumane. She had her eyes at Kayden, the stand was a huge half circle and she couldn't have seen me throwing the weapon. But, as the knife was just about a five feet away, she sidestepped. Still, my dagger snicked her right arm, but only slightly. But all I could think, was Kayden. The girl hadn't have time to finish him off, but the wound on his side looked bad. I refused to think it, but for real, I wasn't sure, if we could cure him. My hands shook. I stared at Kayden, hearing Meliza Nicoli's words unclearly. But anyway, I heard them: "Impressive, Silver. Unfortunately, that's not gonna be enough to stop me, or my army. See you tomorrow. Then, you'll have your fight." From the corner of my eye, I saw her dissolving into that strange black and violet mist like before.

I jumped on my feet and ran to the arena, not even hearing the other campers or Chiron, who had already stepped to the arena and knelt over Kayden. The last few feet, I slid on my knees on the hard ground. Chiron was pouring some nectar to the wound. I was a healer - maybe not an awesome one, but still - and even I was really close to the breaking point - closer than maybe ever before - the instinct took the control over my feelings. I picked up my dagger from the ground and carefully ripped off the rest of the leather stripes over the wound. Now I could see the cut clearly. It was deep, and panic almost got the best of me. I knew, I wouldn't handle it if he didn't survive... I looked up. Chiron's expression was terribly worried. "He-...", he started.

"No!" I pulled the bottle of nectar from him. I uncorked it.

"It's not safe to give him anymore-..."

"Is it then safe to let him die?" I snapped. Maybe it was because I was a daughter of Apollo, or because I had healed the wounded before, but I knew for sure, that if I didn't give him more nectar, he wouldn't make it. And he had to make it. I poured more nectar on the terrible wound, mumbling a prayer to Apollo at the same time. My hands were covered in blood. So was Kayden's orange T-shirt. My hands started to shake again. Kayden had looked terribly pale, but now his skin started to turn red, like he had just ran a marathon. I could see the sweat on his face, and as I touched his forehead, it almost burned against my hand. Too much nectar could burn a demigod from inside... Fortunately, He didn't burn. His breathing started to sound better, and he moved his head like he was just asleep and not dying. I let out a deep sight of relief. I just wanted to lie down on the ground next to him and fall asleep. But I couldn't. I straightened my back and moved my arms under him. I brought him to my lap and got up. Everywhere around me, the campers stared at us. I ignored them and started carrying Kayden towards the infirmary. I felt just a single tear falling down my cheek. I took a shaky breath and pressed Kayden closer to my chest. He was alive.

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**Hope you liked! Please review and tell me your opinion! I'm not really an experienced writer, so comments would really help me to learn more about writing!**

**Anyway, thanks for reading, and happy Valentine's Day!**

**-Patroness Of Athens**


	11. Chapter 11 Jessica

** This took me longer than I thought... Sorry. But however, I really hope you'll like this!**

**Happy reading!**

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Jessica

_'Impressive, Silver. Unfortunately, that's not gonna be enough to stop me, or my army. See you tomorrow.'_

Yeah. Then what? What could I do to stop that bitch? I tried to come up with an idea. The only problem: I had no ideas. It felt like my brain was full of saw dust. Oh, what a great demigod I am. I studied Kayden's face. He was still unconscious and painfully weak-looking, but Chiron had ensured he would be fine. He had yet already got a shade of his normal complex back, and he was breathing evenly. I touched his messy blond hair slightly. Before, I hadn't really thought, how big role he had in my life. But as I now thought back to the Titan war and some other tricky situations, when we had to prepare for a battle, I realized he had made it a lot easier for me. The uptight feel had always got a little glimmer of hope and humor because of him. Now I really could've used a few stupid ideas he'd probably had if he was conscious. He tented to let out really stupid points of views, looking completely serious, (his typical serious expression could be pretty comic) which was actually pretty cute. As I now thought of him in a bit different way, I could almost understand why Cara liked him.

_Cara..._

The look I saw on her face in the stand during Kayden's fight, was still looming in my mind. Something told me there was a simple meaning for it, and that it should've been obvious to me, but there I was again: Trying to think. Always when I thought I was close to the answer, it slipped away from me. Like a stupid, slippery bar of soap. I slammed a palm on my face and cursed. It was so frustrating. I got that impatient feeling, and wanted to hit something - why couldn't my brain just work?

_Jessica_, a male voice whispered in my mind._ Let those thought escape. I know this may sound weird to you, but_ _don't try too hard. And, obviously, the point is: Remember how awesome I am. I guess that's all! Oh, and wait! Don't forget to..._ shine. In the end, it sounded like he was smiling at a private joke between us. Or well, since I didn't get it, it was more like his own private joke. And who was he? I was pretty sure, it was my dad, Apollo. The 'awesome' thing kind of relieved him. _Great, thanks for giving me one more puzzle to solve... Oh, wait! Didn't you say I shouldn't think? Doesn't letting thoughts escape mean that?_ And _shining_... He said it like it had many meanings... I sighed. I was really starting to be jealous at Kayden. I would've so much rather been badly wounded, if it meant I was unconscious and free of thoughts. 'Think I'm a shiftless idiot? Yeah, 'can't blame you.

"Um... hi." A nervous voice said from behind. I already recognized her from the voice, but anyway, I turned around to see her. I wasn't really sure if I wanted to see her, but this was about to get dealed with.

"Cara." I looked at her, trying to look blank. I wasn't sure if it worked, but if there was an emotion on my face, I had no idea what it was. Was it possibly suspicion? Probably. Was there also something else? Maybe.

"Um, could you come over there?" She asked in that same hesitant tone, pointing towards the infirmary's front door.

I frowned slightly, wondering what was in her mind. "Yeah, sure." I saw her cast a short glance at Kayden, looking pained. I studied her face carefully, trying to find a hint of what was going in her mind. Unfortunately, I wasn't too good in reading people's expressions. So I just followed her out of the door to the nightfall. She stopped at the corner of the small house, turning around to face me.

"I... I need to tell you something", she said with that pained look on her face.

I didn't say anything, just looked her into the eyes. She met my eyes hesitantly, almost turning to look away. I remembered the first time we had talked in private. Well, actually it was the only time we'd ever talked to each other. However, her look had been fierce and assertive. Now she looked like a different person. Even the gleaming of her hair looked dimmer.

"I know a way to beat the Black army."

"The Black army? That's the name of Nicoli's army?"

_"Meliza's."_ She looked like I had hit her. "Yes. She's working for Nyx."

I frowned. "You mean the night goddess. How do you know?"

Cara swallowed, like having a lump in her throat. "She told me so." She looked at me, but not into the eyes. "She's my sister."

I just nodded. Actually, I didn't feel shocked, or even surprised as I heard that. I hadn't ever even trusted her, since she was a daughter of Hecate. I'd always kind of waited her to betray us. But no matter how much I wanted to get mad at her, something told me it wasn't the right thing to do.

She frowned. My reaction had had to seem pretty weird.

"Yeah. I don't believe you're with her."

She looked like she was wondering if I was serious. Then she just shook her head. "I _hate_ her." There was so much hatred and bitterness in her voice, I almost flinched. "After today..." she continued, her voice suddenly quivering from anger. She shook her head. "I wouldn't even hesitate, if I had the change to kill her. She's evil. Completely evil." She sounded broken and thunderstruck. I couldn't help but to think, that I was probably the first person she told about this in the camp. She didn't even know me, but still trusted this to me.

"I'm not sure about her, but at least I'm pretty sure I know a way to beat her army... or actually Nyx's army. The Black blessing. That's what they'll use tomorrow. That would make sense, considering how sure she was about their invincibility", she continued.

Invincibility... 'You have to make sure we can't be defeated...' The voice from the darkness had said. She had to be Nyx. The place I had been in in my dream, had to be her temple. I told Cara about my dream.

As I finished, Cara nodded thoughtfully. "So that has to mean..." Suddenly she tensed and cursed in Ancient Greek.

"What?" I asked.

She just cursed again and started to drag me back to the infirmary. As she got the door closed, she stopped and looked at me. "Sorry. In Hades' name... I shouldn't had taken you out."

"You mean... because it's night and..."

"Yeah. It's now her realm out there. The night sky itself is a part of her. She hears everything we say under it."

"But if she wanted to, couldn't she hear us anyway? Like now? Isn't that a gods' ability?"

"Yeah, but it's wiser to talk here. And I could do an ASW -shield. Just wait a second." She closed her eyes and softly mumbled something. I didn't see anything happening, but she opened her eyes and said. "Okay. Now no one can hear us."

"So, what's that Black blessing?"

"It's a spell. Very evil one. It gots it's power from Nyx."

"Is it that Nyx needs Meliza's help for the spell, since she's a daughter of Hecate?" I guessed.

"In a sense. Nyx could do it by herself, but with Meliza's help the magic will be stronger."

"Nice", I sighed. "And what does it do?"

"It makes the their soldiers invincible. A bit like a bath in the river Styx."

"Just getting better and better", I muttered. "And let me guess: the spell is unbreakable."

"Generally, yes. But there _is_ a way to break it." She looked at me significantly. There was now a determined look on her face. She had decided to stop her evil sister from destroying the camp. She was on our side. It was strange, but suddenly, I was trusting her perfectly. And after she had told me about Meliza.

"Are you telling me, that_ I_ should break it?" I asked. "You know magic much better than I do."

"Tell me: what's the opposite of night?"

"Day, but..."

"And what turns night to day?"

_Sun..._ '_Don't forget to..._ shine.' No... it couldn't be...

Cara seemed to be reading my thoughts. Well, it probably wasn't too hard to reason them just by looking at my face. She smiled dryly. "Yeah."

"But if I'm the risk, why did she then challenged Kayden and not me?"

Cara thought for a while. "Kayden is a child of Apollo, too. But... I don't think he has the ability. Only a very few children of Apollo has had it in the history. But you... You have a lot of his power."

I frowned. I had always wanted to be The hero. The one who turns the tide and takes the glory. But de facto, I had never thought I was anyhow a typical child of Apollo, so how could I supposedly have a lot of his power? More than like anyone else? Actually, Kayden had much more Apollo's features.

Once again, Cara seemed to read my thoughts. "You know, having his power and being a typical child of his aren't the same. His power... I believe, that's something he chooses to give to his child. And as I said, he doesn't do that too often."

My gaze moved to my sword. I placed my hand on the leather hilt. Was it possible, that my dad hadn't only given me a sword, but also something much more bigger. Some kind of power. Had he _chosen_ me? I had always wanted something like that to happen, but now that it really seemed to happen, it felt... strange. Unreal. In some other situation, this would've probably felt cool, but now? When Kayden was wounded and everything? I wasn't really in a festive mood. "So, how can I know if I have it? And how do I use it?"

She looked at my hand, which was now clutching the sword. "Yeah... that sword... didn't Apollo give it to you?"

I nodded.

"It would make sense." She shook her head, thoughtful. "Maybe it has some kind of relation to the power. Like... maybe you can control the power through it. But I'm pretty sure you have it."

"And... what does 'the power' do? Do I start glowing golden or something?"

The daughter of Hecate shrugged. "Something like that probably." She gave a look at Kayden's direction and bit her lip. "Could you... Could you seek me if he wakes?"

I nodded and suddenly placed a hand on her shoulder. "It wasn't your fault. I'm not blaming you." I looked her into the eyes. I could still see the pain, but the determination was now much stronger.

"Thanks." And she really sounded thankful. I could tell, that this wasn't what she had prepared for. Then she turned around and stepped out of the door, back to Nyx's realm.

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**Please tell me your opinion of this chapter - or the whole story - in a review! ;)**

**I try my best to post the next chapter as soon as possible, and the next POV will probably be Clarisse's. Probably.**

**Anyway, thanks for reading and hope you find this story interesting ;)**

**-Patroness of Athens**


	12. Chapter 12 Clarisse

**So, got this updated :) It took some time, but I'm trying to write this with care!  
**

**Happy reading!**

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Clarisse

Glaring sunshine hit my face instantly as I stepped out of the rec room's door. I cursed and raised my hand to shade my eyes. It wasn't yet even six AM, and we had already had an emergency meeting, since we couldn't know when that pusher named Meliza Nicoli was going to appear here with an army. Neither we knew _how_ she was going to do that despite of our borders. Well, I think how she was going to_ come_ here wasn't the point, but how she was going regret it.

I headed toward the dining pavilion with the other counselors. Chiron had called the whole camp there to hear the instructions. We counselors were supposed to guide the campers to their positions and ready them for the battle. So, as we reached the pavilion, everyone was already there - demigods, satyrs, nymphs, naiads and all - organized in to pretty presentable lines in front of Chiron. They all were already in full armor. Chiron nodded at us as we arrived. "Clarisse, you should guide the campers from now on. Tell them here our plan in general, then you", he gestured at the other counselors, "each of you should take your own cabins and show them their position more specifically. Where they are on guard, and what should they do when the attack hits." He gave us a serious look. "I have something to do elsewhere." Before he left, he remained considering us with a concerned look on his face.

I stepped forward and the other counsellors scattered around and behind me. "So", I started in a loud voice, "listen up." I scanned the crowd ahead of me fiercely. "We don't know when they'll come, so it should be needless to say, that we have to be on watch _everywhere_ within our boundaries. That's why each cabin will get their own area, which will be on your responsibility. If the enemy appears in your territory, you will call our forces there, and we'll built our defence in that very point of the camp. Clear?" It was quiet, until a kid in the middle of the crowd opened her mouth. "But... didn't we have some awesome magic barriers keeping out the monsters and stuff?" She twittered.

"Yes. We _should_ have. Any other stupid questions?" I said. The kid didn't say anything else. And neither did anyone else.

"Okay, and for calling the others, you all will get one of these." I pulled out a flare gun from my toolbelt. "So, again, if you see an enemy army, pull the trigger and point the gun up." For example, I launched it to the sky. It bursted into green sparks a hundred feet above. "This is a greek fire version, so it can also be used as a weapon. And, since Chiron thinks you need a reminder: Greek fire spreads easily. Be careful. If you still don't remember, that's not my problem." Then I explained how to act when seeing the green fire in the sky. What kind of positions should be taken, and which way the enemy should be forced to retreat. The back-up plans an all. Well, the back-up plan was pretty simple: defend the camp with no plan or die trying. Anyway, it took only a... half an hour?

"So, _Malcolm, _the shield_."_ I said lastly.

The stupid kid on my right passed me a polished bronze shield. It didn't look different from any normal shield, but it was a figment of... one of those Athena's mad scientists... no, _inventors_, as if it mattered. Anyway, the shield's point was, that it could show you different locations, as long as they weren't underground. It was way more handy than a regular battle map, since it showed you the turn of events. With a bit of concentration, I caused the shield to show the whole map of the camp's limits, zoomed small. "Okay, lets start. You", I shot a quick no-good-for-you-to-whine glare at Malcolm, "take your gang there", I poked my finger to the shield, which now zoomed closer to the scene between the camp's toilets and the cabins. "Your guarding range will be the toilets' surroundings", I smiled at him, "and the whole cabin area. So you should split up and patrol in every direction of it. And don't forget the tent." Our reserve base would be their tent - yeah, of course it had to have Athena's symbol on it. "Now, off you go then!" I shooed him to fade.

I sent the other counselors and their groups to their zones, and soon the whole camp was manned - and yes, I checked from the shield, that everyone was in the right place. The Apollo cabin with their first-aid tent near to the armory, the Athena cabin with their tent and the rest cabins with no special equipment. I was about to head back to the rec-room, which was to be our main base, and where Chiron should be, but then something hit my mind: Jessica hadn't been with the rest of the Apollo cabin. The things she'd said the day before were still looming in the back of my mind. And now they were coming true - or most had already _came_ true. Yesterday, challenging that Kayden kid, was clearly a part of that Nicoli's plan according to what she'd said in Jessica's dream, but I still couldn't make out the idea of it. How could making Kayden unable to battle today, had any reason? And if not Kayden, then had she tried to disturb Jessica's concentration? Was she supposedly so important? Was she going to take all the glory? At least that was what she was always after... _Hades_ it could be maddening.

I noticed I was now walking toward the infirmary. Yeah... Jessica was probably there, but... why had I came to look for her? To tell her to go where she should've been by now? No. She'd probably make it to the armory her self. To tell her about my suspicions and to ask her had she found out anything useful? Yes. And there was also a weird bit of... concern? No, it couldn't be. Or could it? Could I somehow be _concerned_ of that stupid boaster? I frowned but kept going.

I stepped in to the infirmary house, and yep - there she was. Asleep on her chair. I sighed and tapped her shoulder. "Jessica?"

She tensed and drew a hand on her dagger. Then she saw me. She sighed. "You."

"Yeah. So, you coming or not?"

"Coming where? Oh... Is it already...?" She lookead around and saw the light coming from the windows. "Oh."

I gave her a you-can't-be-serious -look. "You've been here since the evening?"

"Yep." She rubbed her face, still looking confused.

"Dude, we'll have to be ready to fight at any moment."

"Yeah... I'll just... my armor", she yawned, "I'll get it."

"And you slept... how many hours?"

"Don't know, I just fell asleep at..." She shrugged.

"So... should I even ask if you've got any brilliant new ideas." I wasn't sure if I should get mad or not. Somehow I felt a bit sorry for her, but her state was starting to bug me for real.

She turned to face me. "Actually, yes." She looked already more awake. Her typical, quite annoying I-got-this expression turning on.

I raised an eyebrow. "Spit it out, then."

"Do we have time?"

"Yeah, but... I think we should go to the base."

"To tell Chiron?"

"Yeah, and anyway, I should already be there, watching this shield."

Jessica eyed the shield, then shrugged. "Fine."

We went to the rec-room, where Chiron was, and Jessica told us her news. About how that Hecate's brat, Cara, had told her, that Nicoli was in Nyx's service and they were going to use some kind of spell against us. And she would have to break the spell somehow. Well, that would explain Nicoli's act yesterday, but it still sounded pretty... absurd. I mean.. glowing Jessica running through the baddies, making their little magic tricks fall away? Yeah, why not? I raised an eyebrow at her. "So, the plan is...?"

She frowned. "How am I supposed to know?"

"Well, your the one with those almighty, yet unknown magical powers, shouldn't you know?"

Before Jessica could lose her cool, Chiron stepped in. "Girls. If it really_ is_ the Black blessing... That teory of a child of Apollo breaking it is our only chance. That ability... as you said, it is_ very_ rare. The last child of Apollo with the power lived in the 1300 century." He gave a weighting look at Jessica. "But according to our enemy's acts, it seems that they believe us having a chance to beat them... Which they tried to blot out yesterday. So the power is either in Kayden or in you, Jessica."

Jessica bit her lip, like trying to think. She didn't seem too enthusiastic about possibly having such a power. It really wasn't like her. She was always talking big and begging for a beat up. Sure it was always hard, if someone you cared about got hurt, but... Well, I couldn't beat her up if she was like that. Gods how annoying it was.

Jessica pulled out her sword and handed it to Chiron. "I got this from Apollo, could it have something to do with the power?"

Chiron studied the weapon. To me, it could've been a bit less shiny, but otherwise, it didn't look too bad. And it _was_ golden, which was Apollo's color and everything... "Iliachtída, a sun beam...", he mumbled, reading the name from the hilt. "It _could_ be a sign, or then it's just symbolist. I can't be-..." He was interrupted by a green flash on the surface of the bronze shield, which was laying on the table for us to keep track of. We all turned at it right away, waiting to see some enemies, but there were none. I zoomed to the point where the flash had been, and saw the Aphrodite cabin giggling and pointing at the fading green light and one of the girls, who was jiggling her flare gun through the air, also giggling.

I cursed in a way, that made Chiron give me a certain look. "What? Just... Arrgghh!" How could they even be such bitches? What was even the idea of putting them into a battle? All they could do was gossip and do their little make ups which really wouldn't help them in the middle of an enemy army. And if something didn't help you in the middle of an enemy army, it was no use. Looking pretty? Oh, c'mon. wake up!

Jessica sighed and shook her head. "The first, and most likely the last time in my life, I have to agree with you, Clarisse."

Then an other green light flashed on the shield, and this was came from the shore. My eyes widened as I saw the scene: from the water line, a row of monsters stepped out from the thin air. And by a row, I mean that there were monsters all the way across the right side of the shield's scene. Tiny dots which were our camper's, backed up, forming their own line. The monsters stepped out from the sea, and behind them came the next line.

I jumped on my feet, pulling out my sword together with Jessica. Then we rushed out of the door.

**-LINE BREAK-**

As we got to the shore, the situation didn't look too good. Some other campers had arrived, but at least half of our forces were still somewhere else - probably thanks to the stupid Aphrodite's brats. We quickly scanned the battle, looking for campers that needed help most badly. Sad to say, but there were simply too many of those. So, we just splitted up and attacked the first enemy wave, Chiron shooting arrows behind us with unfailing aim.

A laistrygon was just about to stab a kid, who had his back turned to it - _slash! _One laitrygon less left. An empousa plunged toward me, teeth bared - I kicked it in the chest so hard it became monster dust before even hitting the ground. I wheeled around, hitting my elbow into a snake woman's face. Then I easily finished it with my sword. Through the other noises of the battle, I caught a scream that got my attention. I looked to the left, and saw a little girl on the ground, a huge hellhound bended over her, ready to eat her. I pulled a dagger from my belt and threw it at the hellhound's lap. A drift of monster dust fell on the kid, but otherwise she seemed to be fine. I continued the battle. I slayed tens of monsters, but more and more seemed to appear from the waterline, patching up the front line.

Once, I noticed I had cut down all the monsters near to me, and I was standing alone in the only monster-free spot along the shore. Then a new enemy wave hit me, so I didn't have any time to take a breathe. Not that I needed it. I was fine with fighting. I punched a snake woman in the nose - which they kind of doesn't have but whatever. Then another of those tried to trap me with it's net. I grasped the fringe of the net, tossing it over the monster itself, then kicked it away. I let out a battlecry, slashing my sword through three snakewomen at once, then stapped it in the chest of a laistrygon. These monsters definitely were no match for me. Well, that didn't really surprise me.

"Stay in the line! Don't let them get through!" I shouted, as the monsters rolled forward, surely trying to get to the camp. The campers around me kept the defence up, but more monsters were coming from the sea... The sea! I pulled out a flare gun from my belt and pointed it to the water line, where the monsters were somehow appearing. I pulled the trigger. Green flames bursted through the monsters. "The flare guns!" I yelled. "Point to the waterline were their coming from!" Other green fires were shot to the water, which was now bright green, since the Greek fire could burn also in the water. The monsters, which had been rolling to us by their superiority, couldn't now pass the water line.

As I looked at the monsters, which were now collapsing in the green flames, it actually looked like we were suddenly just about to win. But being a daughter of Ares, I new this was a bit too easy. And I was right. Probably needless to add 'as always.' But anyway, suddenly the whole world turned black, like someone had just switched off the lights. And yeah, many campers shouted something like that. But I was pretty sure that wasn't what had happened. Much more likely, it was the Black blessing.

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**Hope you liked, and thanks for reading!  
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**Rewievs are loved as always ;)**

**-Patroness of Athens**


	13. Chapter 13 Jessica

**So, here's the 13th chapter! This is an important chapter for the story line, and possibly also one of the last ones. Hope you like!**

**Happy reading!**

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Jessica

Everything started going awry after the world turned black. First, all we could see were the green flames burning in the water line. Then, from within the fire, stepped out a dark figure. Who else than Meliza the Invincible Nicoli herself. Before I even noticed, I had stepped forward, grasping my sword. But just before I had the chance to attack her, all the monsters that had just burned in the Greek fire, sprang up from the shoal. And attacked us. What a surprise.

I lifted my sword, which was gleaming in the dim green light. I lashed it in a wide arc, slicing three snake women at once. Nicoli's cowardice was really starting to piss me off. She was just hiding there behind her army - what a leader she was! As I was about to stab the laistygon in front of me, something strange happened. I felt stabbing pain in my left shoulder, and couldn't help but to yelp. As I turned around, I just had time to slice the snake woman in front of me, before it managed to cut my head off. _What the hell...? _There wasn't supposed to bee any monsters behind me... except those three snake women I had just killed... or tried to kill. The Black blessing was messing with me. _Brilliant, now we can't even kill them, what else?_

I kicked away the two other demons, then brought my hand on my wounded shoulder, grimacing. Blood dripped between my fingers. I took a shaky breath. I had experienced worse. Then I continued the fight, trying to ignore the burning pain in my shoulder. The biggest problem was, that I knew the fighting was no use. The killed monsters just kept rising again. I knew, that the only chance to win this battle was killing Mrs. Invincible. The problem: She was behing a monster army we couldn't beat.

"Jessica!" I turned around to see one certain violet-haired kid behind me.

"Cara. Any ideas?"

"Yeah... You're wounded!"

"It's nothing", I mumbled, threwing my knife in the chest of a laistrygon that attacked me.

With a single swing of hand, Cara made my knife flew to her from the ground. She passed it to me, then quickly stabbed a snake woman who had got too close, with her dagger. She turned at me again, pinching her lips together. "If you say so." she still didn't sound too convinced. "But about the plan-..." She turned on her heels, stabbing another snake woman. "...You have to break the Black blessing." She met my eyes, looking more determined than ever. She continued after I'd kicked down an Empousa: "But, she will try to stop you from doing that. We have to distrac her, so that she can't concentrate well enought to maintain the spell." She hunched under a laitrygon's strike. Then lashed it on the back. It dissolved into monster dust, but started to re-form instantly - thanks to the stupid spell.

I sidestepped from the way of an attacking hellhound, then lashed it's side with my sword.

"I know a way to get to her", Cara shouted over the sounds of the battle. "Follow me!"

"And exactly _what_ are gonna do to distrac her?" I yelled back. "Don't say you're gonna-..."

"Attack her?"

I gave her a quick glance before dodging a snake woman's net and and slicing the demon in half.

"I have to. It's the only way to give you some time."

"Um, are you match for her?"

She grimaced. "We'll see." That didn't sound too convincing, and I couldn't help but to fear for her chances.

I coursed through the battle after her, dodging strikes and lashing at the nearest monsters. I didn't even feel the pain above my left shoulder blade. Adrenaline rushed in my veins, sharpening my senses. But insecurity ate my spirit. What could I do to break the Black blessing? Apollo had said something about _shining. _What was that suppose to mean? _Dad? _I asked in my mind. No answer. Typical.

Suddenly, Cara stopped. I noticed she had brought me to a place, where the line of monsters was the thinnest. There was still many of them, though, and more would probably attack us if we tried to get to their boss. "Are we..."

Cara turned at the monsters and closed her eyes. Well, that didn't seem too wise in the middle of a battle. But then, a second later, her eyes flew open and she raised her hand. "_fýgo!_" She whispered, sliding her hand down. It was Greek and meant 'depart'.

Like forcing by an invicible force, the monsters were flung to either sides, so that there was now a monster-free path in front of us. We sprinted across it, and no monsters attacked us. They seemed to be too stunned to act. After about a fifty feet of running, we came close to the waterline, behind the battle. No more monsters were appearing in the water line, so the only person there was Meliza Nicoli. She was standing back to us, which felt pretty strange.

Then she turned around, as if she'd expected us - which she probably had. "Hello, little sis, haven't seen you for a long time."

Next to me, Cara flinched, as if Meliza had smacked her in the face. My instics took over. I stepped in front of her. I didn't like the let-Cara-fight-her-evil-big-sister-and-die -plan at all. I couldn't believe I had even considered it. That Meliza bitch had hurt Kayden. I wasn't going to let her hurt anyone else.

But then Cara took a few steps and pushed me aside. Her whole body was tensed, and she was gripping her dagger so hard, her hand shook. "Don't you even _dare _call me that ever again." Her voice trembled from anger and bitterness.

Meliza grinned and slowly pulled out her sword. She smoothed the blade with two fingers, looking at us. "It seems you brought a friend with you. Still wanna fight me?" She aimed the last few words to me.

"Just been waiting for you to finally call on." I said as disparagingly as I could.

She narrowed her cold, dark eyes lightly, looking at me. "So you're talking big to the bitter end. So be it." She swung her sword, and stepped closer to us.

Cara cast me a glance, and could see just a slight glimpse of hesitation in here eyes. I couldn't help but to think, how it would feel to be in her situation. It was just _so_ wrong. She walked toward Meliza, who was now only a few ten feet from us. I stepped beside her.

"Really? You sure you chose the right side in this war, sis? You wanna be with that silly kid rather than with me?" Her eyes were like titanium, glittering in the green light. She beared a likeness to a cruel, perfidious snake, waiting to strike it's prey.

"I told you not to call me that." Cara said, her voice no louder than a whisper. This time, she didn't hesitate. She attacked.

I admit I had totally underestimated Cara. She stroke like a maniac. It was like all the tension in her body was erupting, giving her hits a multiple power. Even Mrs. Invincible seemed suprised. But of course she didn't let it show. There was just a tiny frown on her face for a second, then her face became as blank as usual. I have to say, that she knew how to fight. She dodged Cara's strikes easily, then pushed her away with a magic impulse.

I ditched Cara's suicide plan and joined the battle, trying to find a break in Meliza's defence. There was none, and I kept wondering, how she managed that. Blocking mine and Cara's attacks in the same time didn't seem to be any kind of problem to her. She was still winning. I was sweathing, and my every attack was slower than the previous. Cara cast me a quick glance, as if saying _what are you doing? _But I kept fighting.

In an unspoken agreement, we were trying to make her retreat to the flaming water. The plan wasn't working too well. I rolled under Meliza's hit, trying to stab her back, while Cara attacked her from the other side. Meliza turned with lighting fast reflexes and swung her sword in a wide arc, rejecting the both strikes. I was wondering, if she had eyes also in her back. Either that, or then she could somehow see our attacks before their came.

I dodged Meliza's strike and almost reeled back. I blinked a couple of times, trying not to collapse from the exhaustion and loss of blood. My head was spinning. I could see the gleeful look on Meliza's face, as she slowly approached me, swinging her sword. She had managed to kick Cara aside, and I saw her farther away, scrambling to her feet. She had to be pretty exhausted, too. It felt like we had fought Meliza for hours. I didn't even hear the noises of the battle behind us - they seemed to come from a different world.

_Jessica, don't you think it's already the time to end this? _A voice said in my head. _Yeah, that's it. _I thought. I raised my sword with both hands for the last attack, taking a deep breath. I focused all my last powers to the strike. It was either now or never. If ever, now was the time to _shine_. I thought of my dad, I thought of Kayden ant the other campers, I thought of the sun. I raised my sword, Iliachtída, above my head, even my bad shoulder felt like going to explode. Suddenly, I knew what to do. _Sun beam. _That's what the name of my sword meant. And now, we really could've used a couple of those. The sword started to gleam - not the dim light it usually did, but like an actual sun beam. It was actually radiating light, so bright, I had to keep my look down, so that I wouldn'd blind.

Then I smashed it into the ground. Bright light started to spread in every direction from the very spot my sword hit the ground. I buried my face behind my right forearm. It was like the whole world had turned from black to white. That's how bright it was.

_"Jessica!" _Someone yelled from far away. First, I thought the voice was just inside my head, then someone grasped my good arm. "Jessica? You okay?"

I opened my eyes slightly, seeing Cara in front of me. "Yeah..." Then I blacked out.

* * *

**Rewievs are welcome ;)**


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